Survivor: Ninja Edition
by melganyay
Summary: 39 days. 18 ninja castaways. Who will outwit, outplay and outlast the others to claim the million dollar prize, title of Sole Shinobi Survivor and ultimate bragging rights? Hosted by your favorite Pervy Sage based on the CBS reality TV series!
1. Thirty Nine Days With No Ramen

**Author's Note:**

Hi everyone! I've been a huge Naruto fan for years, and am recently obsessed with Survivor. So I've decided to write a fic where Naruto characters are contestants in Survivor! Obviously AU. For context on skills and relationships, take it such that the whole canon war has _just_ ended, give or take a few days, but some special cosmic force (me) has resurrected a bunch of the ninja just so they could play this game for my amusement.

* * *

 **Survivor: Ninja Edition - Ep 1**

Thirty Nine Days With No Ramen

 _Day 1_

They were onboard an old cargo ship for what felt like hours. Nobody spoke to each other, instead opting to size up their competition in silence. There were eighteen ninja in the motley crew consisting of various masters in their chosen fields. Some were glaring at each other, releasing subtle amounts of killing intent. Others masked their thoughts behind an impassive stare. A couple of them seemed nervous and slightly twitchy, while one looked completely uninterested.

Gradually, the large vessel slowed to a halt. Time seemed to stand still for a minute as the eighteen contestants readied themselves for any possible number of scenarios. The lull was only broken by the sounds of screeching birds flying overhead and the rocking motion of the ship in the ocean.

Without any warning, three swirls of leaves signaled the arrival of a new trio of ninja. Newly _shunshin-ed_ into the middle of the ship, stood the Sannin. The tallest one in the middle cracked a wide grin as he addressed the competing ninja, who had all sprung to their feet upon their surprise entrance.

"Welcome to Survivor: Ninja Edition!" Jiraiya bellowed jovially. "The eighteen of you have been hand-picked by us to compete in the greatest game ever played. At the end of thirty nine days, only one of you will remain to claim the million dollar prize and title of Sole Shinobi Survivor!"

There were a couple of cheers and whoops from the gathered contestants, but most of them remained silent and observing.

Without missing a beat, Jiraiya continued, "I am the summoner of toads, the author of literature and super pervert, Jiraiya-sama! I will be your host for this game. Tsunade-hime over here-" he indicated to his busty blonde teammate, "is the game's resident medic! And very importantly, Oro-teme-" he jabbed his other teammate, "will be the one making sure you guys don't literally kill each other during the game."

That last comment raised a few eyebrows, and invoked a few more disappointed glances.

Spreading his arms wide and indicating to their surroundings, Jiraiya declared, "We are here at the island of Uzushiogakure! The Land of Whirlpools will be your home for the next thirty nine days, where you will battle it out with each other - and the elements - to come out on top."

Sure enough, Uzushiogakure's impossibly tall and steep hills could be seen far into the distance, and when the ninja studied the water a few hundred meters in front of them towards the direction of the beach, the swirling tides of whirlpools just under the water's surface became evident. The view was breathtaking - the water was crystal clear, a vast jungle occupied a considerable percentage of the island, and the untouched ruins of the ancient city's skyscraper buildings were just visible beyond the tree line. A number of beaches dotted the island's perimeter.

"Now for your teams," the Toad Sage continued, bringing the attention back to the game. "We've taken the liberty to divide you into three tribes of six, each with an even number of males and females. Your tribes have been chosen according to a trait commonly associated with you in your ninja career."

"First tribe - The Brains Tribe. The ninja in this tribe are known for their intelligence, strategic know-how and wit. Your members are Nara Shikamaru, Uchiha Itachi, Akasuna no Sasori, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Karin, and Konan."

There were a few smug smiles with this assessment of their skills, a couple of death glares thrown between the two redheads and one pink-haired member of the tribe, and a quietly muttered, "Troublesome."

"Next tribe! You guys are The Brawn Tribe. These ninja are famous for their strength, stamina and ferocity. Your members are Uzumaki Naruto, Maito Gai, Hoshigaki Kisame, Mitarashi Anko, Sabaku no Temari, and Hyuuga Hanabi."

This announcement was followed by a chorus of enthusiastic cheers, wide grins and proclamations of "youth".

"Finally, the last tribe is my personal favorite. It's The Beauty Tribe!" Jiraiya let out a disturbing giggle. "These ninja are widely praised for their good looks, popularity with the opposite sex, and charm. This tribe consists of Uchiha Sasuke, Hatake Kakashi, Deidara, Haku, Yamanaka Ino and Yuuhi Kurenai."

A flurry of reactions followed this revelation. Kurenai and Ino were secretly and not-so-secretly pleased respectively, while Sasuke, Kakashi and Deidara protested loudly to even louder catcalls from other amused contestants. And Haku was offended as he counted the number of females on his tribe.

"I'm a boy," Haku deadpanned.

Jiraiya looked mortified as the laughter from the other tribes grew even louder. "WHAT?!" He visibly collected himself. "Oh yes... Of course! We totally knew."

He totally didn't.

"A-anyway," Jiraiya cleared his throat. "Here are your tribe buffs, and it's now time for your first challenge." He threw a map and a handful of colored buffs to each tribe. The Brain Tribe had blue, the Brawn red, and the Beauty yellow for their tribe buffs.

"You've probably noticed you only have the clothes on your back and for some of you, supplies or weapons for your specialized fighting style," he nodded towards Sasori, Konan, Temari, Kisame and Deidara. "That means you have zero kunai, shuriken, exploding tags, senbon, ninja wire... the list goes on."

Indicating to their surroundings on the ship, he continued. "This vessel is loaded with various supplies, such as food and tools. Each tribe has a bag of rice waiting for you at camp, but one small bag doesn't go very far for six hungry ninja. Therefore, you now have two minutes to gather as much as you can from this ship onto your rafts. You'll then follow your map and row your raft past the whirlpools to camp. For this challenge, you're allowed to use jutsu to help you. But no using lethal force or engaging anyone in combat. Or else Orochimaru here will go all pedo-happy on you. Got it?"

A quick scan confirmed that everyone understood. Sasuke looked as queasy as a Uchiha could possibly look after briefly locking eyes with a smirking Orochimaru. Jiraiya nodded. "Your two minutes start now. GO!"

The ship erupted into chaos instantly. A shrill shout of "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" led to a couple dozen of hyperactive blurs of orange scrambling for supplies. They were immediately evenly matched by an army of puppets, courtesy of Sasori who had positioned himself on top of the ship's mast. Ice mirrors surrounded the entire ship as Haku flitted around to collect supplies faster than most eyes could follow. Adding to the frenzy, Konan used her origami papers to obscure her opponents' vision, Shikamaru used his Shadow Possession to halt Gai's speed, and Kisame ran around depleting everyone's chakra with Samehada.

Amidst the action, Hanabi ran for cover while grabbing anything she managed to get her hands on. She let out a frustrated huff when Haku blurred past her, stealing the storage scroll she was reaching for. However, her eyes widened when she realized that a slip of paper with the words 'Secret Advantage' was lying underneath the now-taken scroll. In his haste, Haku had unknowingly missed a game-changing advantage. With a small smile, Hanabi swiftly snatched the paper and slipped it into her pants.

By now, Anko was furiously shouting at Naruto as half of his clones had started to load supplies into the Beauty Tribe's raft instead of theirs. The answer was apparent in a smirking Sasuke with his activated Sharingan seeking out anything blonde, orange and loud. A couple of explosions led to lots of swearing as a cackling Deidara took credit for blowing up a portion of the Brain Tribe's collected supplies.

"You have ten more seconds!" Jiraiya's voice broke through the scrambling ninja, as they gathered whatever they could hold into their arms and began to jump overboard onto their rafts. "And two minutes is up, get in your rafts now! Row to your respective camps!"

Satisfied that all the contestants were now overboard and on their way, Jiraiya turned around to regard his two teammates.

"This is your craziest idea yet," Tsunade said, the corner of her lips quirked up in a smile.

Jiraiya gave a good-natured shrug and grinned. After all, he had to do _something_ with the significant fortune he'd amassed from his bestselling _Icha Icha_ series.

* * *

 _Day 1 - Brawn Tribe_

Naruto let out an exuberant whoop of joy as his tribe arrived on their designated beach. "Those whirlpools didn't have anything on us and our awesome ninja strength, dattebayo!"

"Of course, with shark-man Kisame over here you wouldn't expect anything else," Temari replied, earning herself a nod of acknowledgement from the man himself. "He just got in the water and pushed our raft from behind."

"Yeah," Anko added. "You, on the other hand, put a tonne of supplies into the Beauty Tribe's raft! Baka!"

Naruto, however, had already started to run along the length of the beach, completely oblivious to Anko's jibe. He was ecstatic that he would get to explore Uzushiogakure and drink in the sights that his ancestors saw for generations before him. The young Uzumaki was determined to win this whole game. He decided that he would approach this game with the same tenacity as he approached his dream of becoming the next Hokage.

Coming to a stop, he turned back and called to his tribe, "Guys! I found the perfect spot to set up camp!"

Within the next couple of hours, the six ninja proceeded to work together to build their shelter. With Gai's incomparable stamina, Kisame's brute strength and Naruto's clones, the shelter was set up in record time. The ladies helped to unload the supplies they had managed to procure from the earlier tussle. Their haul included a handful of kunai, a few spools of ninja wire and plenty of fruit. The tribe also had a fire blazing, thanks to a small Katon jutsu executed by Anko. With nothing else left to do, the group sat around the campfire together, as they filled a pot with a small portion of rice and waited for it to cook.

The conversation was carried mainly by Naruto and Gai, with frequent interjections made by Anko. Hanabi would offer up occasional smiles at her fellow leaf nins' antics.

"I can't believe I have to go thirty nine days with no ramen!" Naruto wailed.

Anko was not to be deterred. "Oh yeah? Well I gotta spend thirty nine days without any dango!"

"That's _if_ you two clowns even get past the first couple days out here." Hanabi's muttered retort earned her a boisterous laugh from Gai, who gave her his signature 'Nice Guy Pose'.

As the Konoha nin got progressively louder and rowdier, Kisame chuckled, announced that he would try to go fishing, and slipped away from the group. Confident in the shark man's abilities despite a lack of fishing gear, the others waved him off. He had just reached the shore line when he sensed another presence behind him.

"Mind if I join?" It was Temari. Kisame gave her an affirmative nod, and received a tentative smile in return.

Raising a brow, Kisame commented, "Didn't think a good little kunoichi like yourself would wanna hang with the big blue Akatsuki member."

"Don't get me wrong," Temari replied, as she waded into the water. "In normal circumstances we'd never have anything to do with each other. But we need each other in this game."

Sensing he was still unconvinced, she pressed on. "There are four Konoha nin over there. You and I are the outsiders. You can bet that we'll be the first to go if we have to go to Tribal Council. So we should stick together and try to stir things up if we want a shot at staying in the game."

Knowing reason when it was presented to him, Kisame grinned an held out his hand. Temari grasped it and the pair shook.

"Alright, girly. I'm in."

* * *

 _Day 1 - Beauty Tribe_

Sasuke was having a terrible day. He was put on a tribe with people he wasn't particularly fond of, excluding Kakashi, who was so anti-social either way that it really didn't count. If that wasn't enough, the reason for him being on this tribe was because he had a pretty face. Really? He could have easily been placed in the Brain or Brawn Tribe, and excelled. He was a skilled shinobi! One of the best. Sure, he recalled having a legion of fan girls during his academy days, but surely that wasn't the trait _most_ commonly associated with-

"Sasuke-kun!" His brooding was interrupted by Ino, who had thrown herself at him as soon as they washed up on shore. "I'm so happy we get to be in the same team! Makes up for all the lost time during our genin days, doesn't it?"

"Hn," was his response as he pried the clingy girl off his body and walked a safe distance away.

"Oh, come on, _Sasuke-kun_ ," teased Deidara, catching up to him. "I don't see why you're so put off by her. I know _I_ wouldn't mind it if she pressed up on me like that." He was eyeing Ino, who had already stripped down to her bikini and waded into the shallow sea water, enjoying the sun.

Sasuke wanted to tell the blonde ponytail man that it was kind of creepy for him to be perv-ing on Ino, considering that she bore an uncanny resemblance to him. But he decided that voicing it would be a waste of his breath, and instead crossed his arms disapprovingly as he saw that the girl in question had managed to convince Kurenai to strip down and shyly join her in the water.

"Let's build our shelter first, shall we?" With an almost indistinguishable jolt, Sasuke realized Kakashi had managed to creep up right behind him. Pretending he knew his former sensei was there all along, the Uchiha grunted his assent.

The shelter took a few hours to build, considering that the tribe seemed to have trouble focusing on the task at hand. Deidara flirted shamelessly with Ino and Kurenai, while the two kunoichi took advantage of the situation and shifted their building responsibilities to the willing male. Being an explosive expert who was far more inclined to demolishing things instead of constructing them, Deidara's progress was slow going. Haku, on the verge of giving up on the three of them, offered to build a shelter made of his ice mirrors instead. Sasuke shot the idea down, not wanting Haku to waste chakra maintaining the structure for extended periods of time. Eventually, the grumpy Uchiha built most of the shelter with some help from Haku. And Kakashi? Kakashi had wandered off into the jungle to gather wood, only to return two hours later because he "got lost on the road of life".

Sasuke's only solace was the significant amount of supplies they had managed to collect. Naruto's genjutsu-ed clones had given them a considerable amount of food, and the storage scrolls snagged by Haku would help to preserve some of the freshness. They also had gotten a decent amount of ninja tools to set hunting traps in the jungle and possibly catch fish.

Tending to fire that he had started with an easy _Katon_ jutsu, Sasuke glared at the figures of Deidara, Ino and Kurenai splashing each other in the water. Kakashi and Haku were off in the jungle setting snares to catch unsuspecting animals. If he had his way, he'd get rid of the three deadweights in the water first.

* * *

 _Day 2 - Brain Tribe_

Shikamaru woke to the first sounds of heavy rain. Cracking an eye open, it seemed as though the rain had also roused his female tribe mates. Sitting up slowly, the lazy genius gave a nod of greeting to Itachi and Sasori, who looked like they had been awake for a while, as they joined the rest of the tribe in the shelter.

Stifling a yawn and reaching for his water canteen, Shikamaru vaguely registered the soft chorus of "good mornings" from the freshly woken group. Apart from the muted greetings, silence prevailed in the shelter as the six sat together, avoiding each others' gaze as they listened to the rain falling.

Shifting his eyes to the extinguished fire, Shikamaru inwardly sighed. There would be no cooking until the storm died down. The heavy rain, coupled with the strong wind, had already coated his being with a layer of cold water within minutes. He could already see Sakura and Karin shivering. Not daring to touch Karin, the shadow user lifted an arm around the pink haired medic's shoulders, bringing her closer to him to share body warmth. She gladly accepted his offer, leaning into her friend's embrace. Only the Akatsuki members seemed immune to the rain. Sasori, he guessed, didn't even feel the cold as he was made of wood, while Konan was probably used to getting pelted by rain day and night, seeing as she had spent years in Ame. As for Itachi... Well, he'd always seemed invincible.

With the lack of conversation becoming more unbearable by the minute, Konan and Sasori muttered an excuse to check their traps for any animals and disappeared into the jungle. Left with a silent Uchiha and the two medic nins, Shikamaru allowed his mind to drift to the fight that had almost broke out at camp yesterday upon their arrival.

 _"You!" Sasori had snarled at Sakura the minute they set foot ashore. "Don't think I forgot our fight in that cave."_

 _In response, Sakura unconsciously gathered chakra into her fists as she settled into her fighting stance. "That was years ago," she said._

 _"I'll be happy to put you in your place now that Chiyo-baa is'nt here this time," Sasori threatened, as he formed chakra strings._

 _Jumping into the fray, Karin rounded on Sakura. "I remember you too," she spat. "Pathetic, lovesick, useless bitch."_

 _Sakura's expression turned positively feral. "Are you delusional as well as ugly?" she snapped. "As I recall, you were the one begging Sasuke to -"_

 _The confrontation was interrupted by Itachi, as he materialized in between the feuding ninja. "Enough," he commanded, sharingan activated. "Settle your differences outside of this game. I will not allow your foolishness to hinder our tribe."_

Shikamaru was brought back to the present by Sakura's voice. "Karin-san," she said, her voice soft and cautious.

"What?" came the curt response.

"I apologize for starting off on the wrong foot yesterday," Sakura continued. Sensing Karin was about to retort, she held up a hand and kept speaking. "I don't want to fight you, or be rivals. Sasuke-kun is someone very dear to me, and he always will be, but I have changed and so has he."

Her voice was gentle and placating. "The childhood crush I had on him was merely that. An infatuation," she explained, beseeching the other girl with her gaze. "I respect your skills as a kunoichi, and I hope we can get along."

Shikamaru held his breath as he studied Karin's reaction. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips pursed as she considered Sakura's words. Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was in fact a mere minute, she let out a huff. "Fine," she conceded. "I suppose I can hold off insulting you for the next however many days we're out here for."

As the girls shared a tentative handshake, Shikamaru allowed himself to breathe again. Having two loud girls at each other's throats at camp would have been way too troublesome for him. Shifting his gaze away from the pair, his eyes landed on Itachi, who he swore was smiling for a split second before his features shifted back to a casual mask of polite indifference.

Huddled under the shelter and soaked to bone with rain water, the Nara heir could only hope that this truce would last long enough to give him some peace and quiet.

* * *

 _Day 3 - Immunity Challenge_

"Come on in, guys!" Jiraiya hollered as he stood on a gigantic beach, signaling the entrance of the eighteen contestants. They formed up in their teams, standing on the colored mats corresponding to their tribe.

Jiraiya smiled warmly. "How's everybody doing so far? Naruto," he singled out his young apprentice. "What has the first couple of days been like for the Brawn Tribe?"

"Awesome!" Came the immediate response. "We eat lots of fish thanks to Kisame, and everyone gets along!"

Jiraiya nodded. "And what about the Beauty Tribe? Deidara?"

"It's been a blast, yeah," he replied. And, with a cheeky smile as he sneaked an arm around Ino, "Betcha wish you were surrounded by these beauties!"

"Believe me, I do," the toad sage chuckled lecherously, earning a glare from Kurenai. He cleared his throat. "Brain Tribe, Itachi. Same question."

"It has been acceptable."

"Wonderful!" Jiraiya clapped his hands. "With that, it is time to get to your first Immunity Challenge. Tribal immunity is what you covet. The first two tribes to complete this challenge will win this pretty little thing," he gestured to two freshly revealed idols. They were identical wooden carvings of a scroll containing various kanji symbols atop a whirlpool. "And," Jiraiya continued, "You are also playing for reward. I know it's been raining. The first tribe to finish wins two tarps; one for your shelter and one for your fire. The second tribe to finish wins a tarp for your shelter. The losing tribe gets nothing but a hot date with me at tribal council."

"Now, for your challenge," the expression on the super-pervert's face turned devious. "The first two members of each tribe will race into the jungle to retrieve a key each, and come back to the beach. No engaging other teams and no chakra usage, except to enhance your running speed. The trek is two kilometers. Along the way there have been hidden trip wires set, and if you trigger them, they'll launch a paint ball at you. For every paint splatter on your clothes, you'll incur a ten second time penalty before the next two tribe members start on their leg of the challenge. Got it so far?"

Seeing everyone's comprehension, Jiraiya continued his instructions. "The next two tribe members will water-run for a kilometer out to sea, dodging whirlpools on the way. Again, no engaging others and chakra is to be used only for water-walking. You'll then dive down five meters to untie a key each and return to shore, where the final two tribe members will use the four keys to unlock a chest containing puzzle pieces, and they will put together the puzzle in the shape of the Uzumaki spiral. First two tribes to complete their puzzle will win immunity. Have a minute to strategize, and we'll start."

...

"Alright!" Jiraiya shouted. "Racing into the jungle we have Gai and Hanabi for Brawn, Itachi and Konan for Brain, as well as Kakashi and Sasuke for Beauty. Survivors ready, GO!"

The six ninja disappeared in a blur. Gai was the fastest of the lot, having taken off his weights for this challenge. He made a direct beeline for the area which Hanabi had determined their keys were located, thanks to her Byakugan prior to start of the challenge. Gai was unconcerned as to whether or not he tripped the wires, seeing as he was quick enough to trip them all but be well out of the way by the time the paint reached his previous spot. Hanabi wasn't slow by any means, but she still lagged behind Gai's monstrous speed, although she compensated for it with her Hyuuga bloodline that made all the wires visible to her eyes.

All three Sharingan users had the bloodline activated, making it considerably easier to dodge the incoming paint whenever they tripped a wire. Out of the six, Konan was having the toughest time avoiding the paint while keeping up to speed with the group.

In the end, Gai was the first to arrive back with his key, completely paint-free, and proclaiming 'youth!'. A spotless Itachi was second, closely followed by Kakashi and Sasuke, who both had a total of four paint splatters between them. Hanabi was next, and as she was also untouched by the paint, the Brawn Tribe was the first to start on the next part of the challenge as the Beauty Tribe had to wait out their forty second time penalty.

"Kisame, Naruto, GO!" Jiraiya signaled to the pair, which wasted no time in rushing off to the sea.

Moments after the pair had left, Konan returned to the beach with her key. She had three paint splatters, incurring a thirty second wait for the Brain Tribe.

Naruto and Kisame were powering through the water, sidestepping and leaping over whirlpools. While the duo knew they didn't have the best chakra control, they knew that no one else in the competition came close to having as large reserves as they did. Pressing this advantage, they attacked the waves at a full sprint.

Quickly arriving at their destination, Kisame made very quick work of retrieving his key, taking mere seconds to complete the dive. Naruto took twice as long, but still managed to claim his key swiftly. As the pair began their run back to shore, they spotted the pairs from the other tribes making their journey to collect their keys.

"Let's leave 'em in the dust, blondie," Kisame growled.

"Race ya back, blue-y!" Naruto laughed as they pushed to increase their speed. "Hi Sakura-chan!"

The girl in question gave a quick wave, but otherwise paid her comrade no mind. She had to focus at the task at hand, carefully calculating how much chakra she could spare for each step. One miscalculation could get her sucked into a whirlpool, losing valuable time and energy. A quick glance to her left told her that Karin was doing the same.

The girls had started on their portion of the race roughly at the same time as the Beauty Tribe. Unfortunately for them, Haku and Deidara were slightly faster and had larger chakra reserves, eventually taking the lead over the two girls. By the time Karin had managed to claim her key on her second dive, Naruto and Kisame were already seconds away from hitting the sand, and Haku and Deidara were a considerable distance in front of them already.

Gritting her teeth in annoyance, Sakura added more chakra to her feet. "Come on, Karin! We can't lose." Without waiting for a response, she picked up her speed and pushed herself forward as hard as she could.

Back on the beach, Anko and Temari had just unlocked their box of puzzle pieces. It didn't take them long to figure out that the puzzle was in the shape of a circle, and they began to work quickly from there. A few meters away, the puzzle solvers from the other tribes took the chance to sneak a quick look at their progress, hoping to glean a small advantage when it was their turn to start putting their puzzle together.

Deidara and Haku arrived soon after, panting lightly, followed by Sakura who was a few seconds behind them. The Brain Tribe was forced to wait for Karin to catch up before they could proceed. Knowing the members of her tribe were not the type to cheer and be over exuberant, Sakura took it upon herself to cup her hands around her mouth and shout, "You can do it, Karin! Just a bit more!"

The exhausted-looking redhead, spurred on by Sakura's words - out of gratitude or annoyance, she did not know or care - picked up her speed as she finally reached the shore and handed her key over to Shikamaru and Sasori, and proceeded to collapse on the sand as she caught her breath.

By now, the Brawn Tribe had only a few pieces left to fit, while Ino and Kurenai had the first third of their puzzle complete for the Beauty Tribe. Making quick work of the locks, Shikamaru and Sasori began to frantically put their puzzle together. If she weren't so worried, Sakura would have found the lazy Nara's swiftness rather amusing. He probably thought that going to tribal council would be more troublesome than hustling to finish a challenge.

A serious of loud cheers caused a few heads to turn towards the celebrating Brawn Tribe. "Brawn Tribe has it! Brawn wins immunity and two tarps!" Jiraiya announced as Gai picked up both Anko and Temari in a bear hug. "We're looking for one more tribe to finish!"

Glancing back at her team's progress and comparing it to the Beauty Tribe's, Sakura was pleased to see that they had caught up and were now neck-in-neck. Both tribes were only a few pieces away from completion. That happiness soon gave way to nerves as she willed her teammates to go faster. She did not want to go to tribal council, especially with Sasori still being openly hostile towards her and only having formed a fragile truce with Karin half a day ago. She knew she could rely on Shikamaru to vote with her, but she was equally certain that Konan would align with Sasori against her. Itachi and Karin were wildcards.

Her musing was interrupted by Jiraiya's announcement.

"And by a split second difference, the Beauty Tribe wins immunity and a tarp! I will see the Brain Tribe at tribal council tonight."

Well, shit.

* * *

 _Day 3 - Brain Tribe_

"That challenge was disappointing," Konan sighed.

"I'm sorry I let us down, guys," Karin said softly. Konan shook her head an placed a comforting hand on her back.

"Don't worry about it," Shikamaru shrugged. "We were at a disadvantage. That challenge almost felt like it was custom made for the Brawn Tribe to dominate."

They had just arrived back at camp, and the atmosphere was equal parts morose and tense. Konan and Sasori mumbled something about refilling everyone's water canteens, while Itachi went to collect more firewood, leaving Shikamaru, Sakura and Karin to tend to the fire.

"How are you feeling, Karin?" Sakura asked tentatively as she poked the embers with a stick.

"Not great," the bespectacled girl admitted. "I mean, I slowed us down in the challenge. That could get me voted out."

"I don't want to vote you out," Sakura assured her. "If I had my way, Sasori should go."

Karin considered it. Pressing on, Sakura added, "I know he'll be gunning for me, and he'll pull in Konan. They both have hardly spoken more than a few words to me over these few days. Besides, he's bad for tribe morale. He just glares daggers at me all the time and keeps to himself."

Nodding her agreement, Karin watched as Sakura added sticks to the small fire that was now burning brightly. "Yeah, that makes sense. I'm willing to vote with you. But I need to suss out what Itachi wants to do as well. Don't really want a tie vote to happen and have to draw rocks."

With that, Karin stood up, offering a small smile to the Konoha nin as she made her way into the jungle. When she was safely out of earshot, Sakura addressed her friend.

"I don't trust her. I think she'll vote for me," she groaned, burying her head in her hands. "Maybe I need to go hunting for a hidden immunity idol."

Shikamaru shook his head. "I have an idea," he said. "I'll talk to Itachi. Leave it to me."

...

Meanwhile, the three Akatsuki members and female Team Taka member had gathered at the water well in the jungle.

"Sakura's going home," Sasori said bluntly.

Konan nodded. "I've got no issue with that. I don't know her, and she doesn't strike me as particularly valuable in terms of her skills."

Itachi wanted to say that it was actually Konan and Karin that cost them the challenge, but he wisely kept silent.

"She told me to vote for you, Sasori," Karin smirked. "But I want her gone."

"Oh?" The puppet master had a curious glint in his eyes. "Didn't you girls kiss and make up or whatever you call it?"

The young kunoichi scoffed. "All for show," she said dismissively. "She needs me. If she didn't, we all know she'd still be fighting over Sasuke-kun with me."

Sasori seemed pleased by her statement. But there was one more thing to make sure of. "Does she have an idol?"

Karin shook her head. "I doubt it. She is way too scared and desperate to have one."

Seeing no reason to disagree with an easy first vote, Itachi declared, "Sakura it is, then."

...

An hour before they were due to leave for tribal council, the Uchiha prodigy was by the shore doing his laundry when he was approached by the Nara genius. Sitting down next to him, Shikamaru began washing his own laundry.

"Itachi-san," he greeted, which Itachi returned by inclining his head.

Shikamaru began to weave his web. "You are voting for Sakura. I'm going to tell you why that is a bad idea."

Itachi wasn't sure if he should be impressed or irritated by the younger ninja's boldness.

"Do tell."

"I'm sure you're well aware that the majority of players in this game are loyal Konoha nin. I know that you yourself are included in this list, despite what is widely perceived."

Itachi paused from his laundry for a fraction of a second before resuming his actions. So the Nara was aware of that.

Shikamaru continued. "Sakura is a very precious person to your brother, even though he doesn't always show it. She, in return, truly loves and cares for him. Surely you can see how re-aligning yourself with Konoha will set you up favorably in both the game and in your personal relationships." Seeing that he had Itachi's attention, Shikamaru went in for the kill.

"Of course, using the term 're-align' is rather inaccurate. You've always been protecting Sasuke and Konoha. Now is the time for everyone to finally realize it. I know that Sasuke would wish to see your name cleared. This time, you can protect him without having to hide."

Itachi decided that he would be impressed. The young genius certainly deserved his reputation. He allowed a small smile to grace his features as he held the Nara's gaze, and his amusement grew when Shikamaru's eyes widened in mild surprise.

"Say I do align with you and Sakura," Itachi said. "That would only result in a tie."

Realizing that the Uchiha now had his attention entirely on him, Shikamaru sensed that he was being tested. Itachi knew what had to happen, but he wanted him to say it.

"Karin," Shikamaru said. "You're Sasuke's older brother. She'll listen to you."

"What about keeping the tribe strong? Sasori did well in the challenge today."

That statement caused Shikamaru to raise an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting we vote Konan instead?"

"Hn," was the only response the shadow user received. Sasori might like to think otherwise, but tonight's vote was entirely _his_ decision to make.

* * *

 _Night_ _3 - Tribal Council_

Night had completely fallen by the time they had made it to tribal council. There was a blazing fire in the middle of the hut, with two sets of benches on either side of it. Jiriaya stood in the gap between the benches, his gaze fixed on the shinobi making their entrance.

"Welcome to the first tribal council of the game," Jiraiya greeted, his voice unusually somber. "Before you sit, grab a torch from behind the benches, dip it in and get fire." He gestured towards the large fire pit in front of him.

"In this game, fire represents your life," the Sannin continued. "When your fire is gone, so are you."

As he dipped his torch into the fire, Itachi had to hold back a scoff. So what if his torch got snuffed; he could _a_ _materasu_ this entire hut into oblivion. But as usual, he wisely decided to hold his tongue.

Once the six ninja had lit their torches and settled on the bench, Jiraiya opened the discussion.

"So, Brain Tribe. You guys are the first to come see me at tribal council. What happened in the challenge, Konan?"

The blue-haired nin in question gave a nonchalant shrug. "The challenge didn't go our way. I believe everyone tried their best, but the other teams out-performed us this time."

Her comment drew out a low growl from Sasori. Noticing the reaction, Jiraiya directed his attention to the puppet master. "You don't seem too happy about that, Sasori."

"I am dissatisfied by some of our members' incompetence," he grumbled. "I didn't like waiting as long as I had to start the puzzle. But," he reigned in his frustration, "how I am voting tonight is completely unrelated to how the challenge went."

"Hm?" Jiraiya's eyes lit up in curiosity. "What are you basing your vote on, then?"

Sasori let some of his killing intent leak out. "Payback."

Karin rolled her eyes and smirked. "Let's cut to the chase," she said. "Yes, having a strong tribe to win challenges is very important at this early stage of the game. But it's no secret that Sasori hates Sakura cuz she bested him in that fight near Suna years ago."

At her comment, everyone nodded. Jiraiya addressed his teammate's apprentice. "Sakura. Your name was just thrown out there. Does that make you worried?"

"Of course it does," she replied immediately. "Sasori has been pretty hostile towards me this whole time. Tonight kind of feels like a long awaited rematch between us," she admitted with a humorless laugh. "All I can do is hope that I come out on top again."

Sasori scoffed. "You won't."

Jiraiya let out a low whistle. "Alright, then," he held up his hands in a placating manner. "I'm fairly certain that the vote tonight is between Sasori and Sakura. Shikamaru, what are you basing your decision on?"

"It's a bit of a drag," the shadow user said slowly. "You can't make a decision based on your personal preferences alone. You need to weigh up who is better to keep for challenges, tribe harmony, and your long term game."

"Wise words," Jiraiya agreed. "With that, let's get to the vote."

...

"Okay, I have the votes," Jiraiya announced as he held the urn containing the slips of paper that would decide tonight's fate. "If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and would like to play it, now would be the time to do so."

There were a few subtle glances exchanged, but no movement otherwise.

"I'll read the votes, then." The toad sage reached into the urn to pull out the first folded parchment. "First vote: Sakura."

Shikamaru stole a quick look at his friend. She looked nervous.

"Next vote: Sakura."

The girl in question covered her face with her hands. It was going to be utterly embarrassing to be the first person voted out. Team 7 would never let her live it down.

"Sasori," came Jiraiya's voice, as he held up the third vote. Reaching back into the urn, he pulled out the next paper. "Sasori. We're tied; two votes for Sakura, and two votes for Sasori."

Shikamaru closed his eyes. The next wote would determine Itachi's choice.

"Fifth vote: Sasori."

At this, Sakura's head snapped back up, her expression filled with careful hope. Sasori's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then they narrowed.

Jiraiya unfolded the final vote of the night.

"First person voted out of Survivor: Ninja Edition," he paused for dramatic effect. "Sasori."

The reactions were immediate and varied. Sakura let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a relieved sigh and a fangirl's squeal while pulling Shikamaru in for a hug. Over her shoulder, the Nara genius locked eyes with the Uchiha prodigy, a silent understanding passing between them. Konan's mouth fell open as her eyes darted back and forth between the other members of her tribe, while Karin studiously avoided meeting her gaze.

Sasori let out a formidable wave of killing intent as he brought his torch to Jiraiya. Turning his head around to glare at his pink-haired nemesis, he hardly registered the Sannin snuffing the flame out after telling him that "the tribe has spoken".

"This isn't over," the Akatsuki redhead threatened.

"On the contrary," Sakura giggled happily, "I think it is. For you, that is."

Adding insult to injury, and informing Sasori of just _who_ was in-charge of his elimination tonight, Itachi placidly intoned, "Sakura, two. Sasori, nil."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Thank you so much for reading! Please review and tell me what you think. I also welcome any ideas for challenges, future alliances, game twists, etc etc. For your convenience, below are the age groups of the players.

42 - Sasori, Konan  
36 - Kisame  
34 - Kurenai  
33 - Kakashi, Gai  
31 - Anko  
26 - Deidara  
24 - Itachi  
23 - Karin  
22 - Haku, Temari  
19 - Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Ino  
15 - Hanabi


	2. Violently Murderous But Likeable Maniacs

**Author's Note:**

Hi guys, here is the second installment of Survivor: Ninja Edition! Thank you to those who have read, favorited, followed and reviewed so far. Your encouragement and support means a lot. For those who have been curious - pairings aren't gonna be a huge part of this story. Yes, there is fluff and banter etc etc, but it's Survivor. The only real couple to have gotten together properly because of the game in all 35 seasons is Rob and Amber. Just one. Survivor isn't the best platform to build lasting romances, just fleeting ones. ;)

I'll be revealing the votes of the previous chapter each time before the next one. Enjoy!

Ep 1 Votes:

Voted for Sakura - Sasori, Konan (2)  
Voted for Sasori - Sakura, Shikamaru, Itachi, Karin (4)

* * *

 **Survivor: Ninja Edition - Ep 2**

Violently Murderous But Likable Charismatic Maniacs

 _Night_ _3 - Brain Tribe_

Karin let out a huge yawn as she arrived back to camp with her tribe. Well, her tribe minus Sasori, who had just been voted out. It was well into the night, with the only light in camp provided by the embers in the fire pit and the dull shine of the moon from behind the clouds.

"Wow, well played everyone," Konan sighed as she rested her torch against the shelter. "I did not expect that at all."

"Sorry about that, Konan," said Karin, the sole remaining redhead of the tribe.

She truly did feel a little bit sorry; given her choice, Karin would have preferred Sakura to have gone home. However, when the almighty Uchiha Itachi- _sama_ strides up to you and tells you the plan, it is usually in your best interest to acquiesce to him and go along with it. That being said though, the Uzumaki supposed that there was a silver lining to tonight's events. Firstly, she was relieved that her name hadn't even been an option for the vote. Secondly, she was now in a majority alliance of four to one. And most importantly, getting in Itachi's good books could possibly give her a leg up in earning Sasuke's affections later down the road.

"I would've voted with all of you if I was told to," Konan said with a light shrug. Turning to the girl she had just unsuccessfully voted against, she continued, "I hope there are no hard feelings, Sakura-chan."

Sakura shook her head and offered a kind smile, laying down underneath the shelter to turn in for the night. "None at all, Konan-san."

* * *

 _Day 4 - Brawn Tribe_

Life on the islands of Uzushiogakure was going surprisingly smoothly for Hanabi. Being the youngest and arguably the least notorious of all the ninja picked to play this game, the young Hyuuga had expected to be ignored and undermined right off the bat. Instead, she was actually having a fantastic time. Her tribe gelled together well, they had won two tarps in the last challenge, and she had a secret advantage up her sleeve that she found onboard the cargo ship.

It was a beautiful, clear day. Watching as Gai refereed a friendly game of Chicken between the rest of her tribe mates, she allowed an amused chuckle to escape her lips as she observed Naruto getting dunked in the water by Temari. Stirring the pot of fish that she was cooking above the fire, she let her mind drift back to the words written on the parchment entitled 'Secret Advantage'.

 _Congratulations! You have found the Legacy Advantage. This advantage will grant you individual immunity when there are either 11 or 6 people left in the game. One-time use; non-transferable. If you are voted out before using it, you must will it to another player still in the game._

Hiding a satisfied smirk as she lowered her head to add more sticks to the fire, Hanabi started plotting numerous potential scenarios and strategies in her mind. She would go as long as she could without informing anyone of her advantage.

A shrill shriek caused her to snap her eyes towards the water, before she visibly relaxed and gave a small huff. Anko was down on her back in the shallow water, with Kisame following soon after as he lost his balance and ended up toppling on top of the female, reducing the rest of their tribe mates to tears of laughter. Hanabi narrowed her eyes, and quickly returned to her cooking, giving the fish broth a few more stirs.

One didn't need a byakugan to see that there was something brewing between Kisame and Anko. Something that was definitely a step further than platonic, that is. The pair did have a lot of things in common, after all. They both had confident, boisterous personalities and shared surprisingly similar values on how they viewed their role as ninja. Or as Naruto had put it yesterday, they were both "violently murderous but likable charismatic maniacs". That description actually applied to _all_ ninja, but it seemed a particularly apt way to describe the couple in question.

"Lunch is ready!" Hanabi called to her tribe, signalling the end of their Chicken competition as they made their way over to her and received their meal with thanks.

The young Hyuuga kept her expression politely blank as she watched Anko swat Kisame's hand away playfully, foiling his attempt at stealing some of her food.

For now, she would simply observe. But if the need to eliminate a threat were to arise, Hanabi would be the first to pounce.

* * *

 _Day 4 - Beauty Tribe_

Sasuke chanced a quick look behind his shoulder as he swiftly pushed his way through the jungle foliage, trying to keep as silent as possible. His sharingan-enhanced vision picked up no followers, and he did not sense any nearby chakra signatures. He was alone. Perfect.

Keeping his eyes peeled as he scanned his surroundings, Sasuke was on the lookout for anything that looked slightly out-of-place in the massive sea of green in front of him. Spotting a dead tree stump that appeared as if it had been struck by lighting a while ago, the Uchiha proceeded to methodically search the base of the trunk, as well as every nook and cranny in the bark.

Nothing.

Tugging his hair in frustration, Sasuke began to look for his next target. His immunity idol hunt had been underway since his second day out here, but no matter how hard or frequently he searched, he had turned up empty handed every time. Adding on to his annoyance, his chances of success were slim to none as he was never able to get more than fifteen minutes alone to himself at any point in time, because -

"Sasuke-kun! There you are! I missed you," Ino cooed, snaking her slender arms around his torso as she pressed her chest onto his back.

Ino. He wanted to strangle her so badly. That girl never left him alone. _Ever._ And wherever Ino went, she was followed in turn by -

"Ino-chan," a masculine voice sounded a few meters behind the poor Uchiha who was currently stuck in place, courtesy of the Yamanaka's vice-like grip.

Yes. The _other_ blondie. Deidara. He was never far behind Ino. Which meant that Sasuke was almost constantly surround by The Annoying Blonde Ponytail Pair. It happened so frequently that Sasuke had even resorted to using the acronym 'TABPP' for his own mental convenience. Being around the two of them for an extended period of time always made his head hurt. All they did was shamelessly flirt and make cringe-worthy lewd passes as each other. It was harmless banter with zero emotional involvement on their behalf, but their vapid displays still irked the Uchiha's soul. He feared that being around them too much would reduce his IQ to a negative denominator.

"Deidara!" Ino, a.k.a Blondie Number One, exclaimed. Her pleasantly surprised smile soon became mischievous, as she let go of a relieved Sasuke to strut towards the man who had addressed her. "Can't get enough of me, eh?"

At Ino's flirtatious comment, Deidara - Blondie Number Two - cocked a smug grin and pulled her to his side by placing his arm around her waist.

Wasting no time at all, Sasuke had _shunshin-ed_ back to camp as soon as Ino had released her death-hold on him, abandoning TABPP in the jungle.

Back at camp, Sasuke found himself in the company of his former sensei, who was lounging in the shelter. Haku and Kurenai were by the shore doing their laundry.

Leveling an exasperated stare at Kakashi, the tormented Uchiha ground out, "Ino. I want her gone."

The copy-nin raised his one visible brow. "Hm?" he said. His voice was leisurely and unhurried. "Are you sure that's the wisest thing to do?"

"Of course it is," Sasuke spat. "She does nothing around camp, she's not even particularly strong, and she follows me around day and night! She drives me crazy!"

"Aah," Kakashi said simply.

Sasuke glared at him.

Sighing as he realized that his former student was demanding an answer, Kakashi continued, "It's obvious she's smitten by you, even if you don't welcome the attention. But why get rid of someone when you know for a fact that they will be completely loyal to you? As a ninja, you should know to take every advantage you can get."

Crossing his arms and facing away from the silver haired man, Sasuke pursed his lips and stayed silent. He understood the logic in keeping Ino around, but he had to weigh up his options. Which was more important - the guaranteed advantage that Ino would provide him in this game to win, or his sanity?

* * *

 _Day 5 - Brain Tribe_

Konan knew she was in deep shit. The past day and a half since tribal council had been rather quiet and uneventful on their beach, but the sole female Akatsuki member was no fool. She was clearly on the bottom of the tribe, and the next to be voted off. Eventually, Konan had reached the conclusion that she had two options to save herself. The first was to look for a hidden immunity idol, and the second was to irrevocably throw someone else under the bus to get the target off her own back.

Deciding that she would use the latter option as a Hail Mary if they lost the next immunity challenge, Konan was currently on the quest for the idol. This was the first chance she had gotten to slip away from her tribe to explore the jungle by herself. The four of them had been keeping close watch on her since the Sasori blindside, even if they liked to pretend otherwise.

Extending a small amount of chakra, Konan subtly checked her perimeter for any approaching tribe members. Deciding it was safe to continue, she trekked onward for another few minutes, and eventually arrived at a small cave with a low ceiling. The rock walls of the cave were punctuated with a random assortment of naturally-formed ridges and dents.

Hedging her bets, Konan ran her hands all around the walls, covering as much of the surface as she could in as little time as possible. After half a minute of exploration, her left hand passed over a dip in the wall. Instead of the rough sensation she was expecting, she felt a flimsy material.

Pausing for a second as her eyes widened, Konan reached into the small crevice and pulled out a piece of parchment that was rolled up and secured with a string. Unable to keep a triumphant smile from gracing her features, she deftly untied the string and unraveled the scroll. Her eyes promptly found the words printed on the clue.

 _Congratulations! You have found a map to the hidden immunity idol._

Sure enough, there was a map of their camp with an 'X' on it to mark the location of the idol. It was close to the water well, buried underground in a patch of dirt a few paces away from the frequented spot. She knew immediately where she had to dig, given that she had passed by that particular spot on the ground numerous times by now. It wasn't too hard to miss as most parts of the jungle were covered in some form of vegetation, whereas the spot in question was devoid of any plant life.

Without wasting another minute, Konan hastily made her way back to the water well, fully aware that she had been gone for a significant amount of time. She dearly hoped that no one had noticed her absence. She had just bounded into the clearing containing the well - and the idol - when she was forced to come to a surprise halt.

"Konan," Itachi tipped his head in greeting as he held her gaze evenly. He was just about to refill his water canteen when she had made her entrance.

Giving Itachi a nod in return, Konan tore her eyes away from his and forced herself to smile. "How was the fishing trip? Catch anything good?" she asked with feigned cheerfulness, walking up to him casually.

Inwardly, however, Konan was a nervous wreck. 'Just act normal!' she told herself. 'Distract and redirect him. Don't think about the idol buried just a few steps away from you. Hide the clue, stay calm, and don't do anything to rouse his suspicion!'

Despite her best efforts, Itachi seemed to sense her unease as he offered her a smirk in response. "Yes. The trip turned out _very_ favorably."

"G-great!" she forced out, mentally cussing at herself for stuttering. "I'll head back to camp to help prepare the fish then."

Uncomfortably conscious of his amused stare that was still trained on her, Konan all but scurried back to camp. Digging up the idol would have to wait for now.

She was so shaken that she did not even register that Itachi's sharingan had been activated the entire time.

* * *

 _Day 6 - Immunity Challenge_

"Come on in, guys!" Jiraiya's voiced echoed, signalling the entrance of the Brawn and Beauty tribes. When the twelve were settled on their respective tribe mats, he called out a second time, "Brain Tribe, come on in!"

As the five ninja on the Brain Tribe commenced their walk of shame, Jiraiya announced, "Brawn and Beauty tribes, get your first look at the new Brain Tribe. Sasori was the first to be voted out of this game."

The news was met with different degrees of surprise. Most of the ninja did not have much of a reaction, as they didn't particularly care. Deidara, however, was unable to conceal his shock.

Singling out the ex-Iwa nin, Jiraiya asked, "Deidara, why the big reaction?"

"Just thought that Sasori no danna was tougher than that, yeah," the blonde said, recovering quickly from his surprise. He did assume that either Sakura or Shikamaru would've gone first, as the numbers were not in their favor. However, the vote revealed that there were obviously many more layers to the Brain's dynamics, but Deidara chose to keep his thoughts unvoiced.

Jiraiya nodded. "Right," he said, clapping his hands. "We've been out here for six days. How has surviving outdoors been so far, given that everyone here is a skilled shinobi? Temari, give us your thoughts."

The Suna kunoichi answered without missing a beat. "It's not too bad at all. I mean, we're all used to sleeping outdoors and getting our own food on missions. Although I must say that most missions don't normally require you to spend six consecutive days out."

"Good point," Jiraiya agreed, satisfied with her answer. "Being out in the wild for so long, what are some of the things that everyone misses? Give us a shout."

"RAMEN!" came Naruto's instant response, earning him a few amused chuckles.

"Hot showers," Ino groaned.

"Icha Icha," Kakashi said simply.

"Ah!" Jiraiya interjected. "Funny that you should mention that, Kakashi. Because it has something to do with today's challenge."

Sensing quite a few death glares from the female contestants, the proud pervert had to quickly clarify his previous statement. "Nothing perverted!" he said hastily, before a disappointed expression graced his features for a split second. Shaking his head to focus, he continued his explanation. "The winning tribe of today's challenge gets to pick between two choices, while the second tribe to finish gets the remaining option. The first choice is comfort," he said, gesturing to a large pile of blankets, pillows, fold-up chairs and a hammock. "The other choice is your comfort items from home."

Pointing to a large shelf behind him, the seventeen contestants could see an assortment of their most treasured personal items, each labelled with their name. Sure enough, Kakashi's item of choice was his well-read copy of Icha Icha, proudly autographed by Jiraiya himself.

"I know it's worth playing for," Jiraiya said smugly as he observed the longing expressions on the ninja's faces. "In addition, you're also playing for immunity. That means the losing tribe will have to vote someone out, on top of missing out on these wonderful rewards."

Seeing the look of resolve that had set in on most faces (especially Kakashi's), the toad Sannin proceeded to outline the challenge. Extending his arms wide, he said, "As you have probably noticed by now, we are in a particularly wide valley of Uzushiokagure."

True to his words, the group of ninja were surrounded by numerous steep and incredibly high hills. They were standing in a large valley covered in grass.

"For this challenge, four tribe members will be blindfolded. You will be divided into two pairs of two. The fifth member will act as the caller, directing their blindfolded tribe mates to find a total of four bags of puzzle pieces that are scattered around this valley that is filled with obstacles. Your bags correspond to your tribe color. Once you have retrieved all four bags, the caller will instruct one tribe member who will solve the puzzle while still blindfolded."

Noticing a few of the players smirking, Jiraiya added casually, "Oh! One more thing. Everyone will be wearing chakra-suppressing bracelets. You'll be doing this challenge without _any_ access to your chakra. That means no byakugan or sharingan."

...

"Alright!" Jiraiya announced, "We have our teams. For the Brain Tribe, we have Karin as the caller, directing Shikamaru and Sakura, as well as Itachi and Konan. The Brawn Tribe has chosen Gai to be the caller, leading Kisame and Anko, together with Naruto and Hanabi. For the Beauty Tribe it is Ino who will be calling the shots, guiding Sasuke and Haku, as well as Kakashi and Kurenai. Temari and Deidara are sitting out of this challenge."

All the participants in the challenge were wearing chakra-suppressing bracelets on both their wrists, effectively sealing their reserves. The pairs were wearing black blindfolds around their eyes, and the callers were standing on top of a platform that lifted them three meters off the ground.

Noting that everyone was ready and awaiting his cue, Jiraiya shouted, "Survivors ready! And... GO!"

The blindfolded ninja started jogging at a brisk, but cautious pace. The three callers began barking out instructions to their tribe, trying to out-yell the other two. It resulted in a cacophony of echoing voices, courtesy of the valley that they were situated in.

Kisame and Anko were off to an early lead, moving quickly in tandem with each other. Gai's booming voice was easily heard by them. "Kisame! Anko!" he yelled. "There is a bag ninety degrees to your right! Turn and keep going towards it, but beware there is a log a few steps away from you!"

Assured that the pair were now on the right track, Gai turned his attention to Naruto and Hanabi. "Naruto and Hanabi!" he bellowed. "There is a bag quite a bit further in front of you! Your path is clear - channel your power of youth and sprint forward!"

Looking at his first pair of tribe mates, Konoha's Green Beast called, "Kisame, STOP! Very good, now Anko, the bag is right by your left foot. Pick it up and follow my majestic voice back!"

A loud, distinct yell sounded out far away. Naruto had tripped over the bag that his pair had been running towards, sending him tumbling to the ground with Hanabi not far behind him. "Ah, Naruto, Hanabi!" Gai shouted. "You found it! Ehehehe! Grab it and follow my voice back as well!"

The Beauty Tribe was also progressing smoothly. Ino projected her voice loudly and clearly over the arena, dishing out orders with authority. "Sasuke-kun, stop! You've gone too far, take seven steps back! Kurenai-sensei, you need to travel diagonally forwards to your left, then make a sharp right to avoid the obstacle!"

The challenge was going well for the Brain Tribe as well. Karin's shrill voice was able to cut clearly across the valley to her team mates. Used to working together, the pairs of Shikamaru and Sakura, as well as Itachi and Konan, easily picked up her directions while maneuvering the obstacles in the valley efficiently.

At first, all three tribes were progressing rather evenly, with no one tribe taking the lead significantly. However, that soon changed when Kakashi and Kurenai picked up a blue colored bag instead of their tribe's yellow colored one. Mistaking Karin's voice for Ino's, the pair had followed the wrong kunoichi's instructions, leading them to the wrong bag. In the mean time, Sakura and Shikamaru were making circles in one spot, attempting to feel for the bag that had already been taken.

It took Kakashi and Kurenai another minute of ignorant progression before they were able to make out what Ino was frantically yelling about. Upon realizing their mistake, Kakashi haphazardly flung the blue bag far away from his person in the opposite direction from where Ino's voice was coming from. Without missing a beat, the pair quickly picked up on Ino's new orders and made haste to retrieve their forth and final bag.

In the mean time, the Brawn Tribe had just made it back to Gai with all four bags of puzzle pieces. Hanabi, the chosen puzzle solver for the challenge, began untying the bags and emptying their contents. It was a fairly simple puzzle with only twenty pieces, considering that the person solving it would have to do it without their sight.

Out on the obstacle course, Kurenai and Kakashi had managed to locate their correct yellow colored bag and were making their way back to Ino at a hurried pace. Shikamaru and Sakura were a lot less lucky; they were still making their way to their final bag as instructed by Karin. It appeared that Kakashi's toss of their bag had put a significant distance between the pair and their goal.

By the time Shikamaru and Sakura finally picked up their last bag of puzzle pieces, Kurenai had just started untying her bags for her tribe and Hanabi was already making decent progress with Gai's help. Running quickly back to the direction of Karin's voice, the pair were further hindered as the rope connecting them got caught on a pole, jerking the two Konoha ninja forward from the force, then forcing them backwards to meet the ground.

When they made it back to their tribe, Shikamaru took on the position of puzzle solver, doing his utmost best to catch up to the other teams.

However, it was too late. Once again, it seemed as if the Survivor Kami decided to do another shit right on top of the Brain Tribe.

"And by a _very_ close call, the Brawn Tribe takes first place in the challenge, followed by the Beauty Tribe!" Jiraiya's jovial annoucnement sounded more like a death sentence to Konan, who knew she was in very real danger of being voted out. "Coming in dead last, the Brain Tribe is walking away with nothing but a second date with me at tribal council."

Watching as the Brawn Tribe walked away with their haul of cushions and blankets, and the Beauty Tribe with their personal items (Kakashi already had his nose buried in that blasted orange colored book), Konan knew that she would have to do whatever it took to keep herself in the game.

It was time to dig up that idol.

* * *

 _Day 6 - Brain Tribe_

As soon as they hit the beach, Konan offered to take a walk to the water well to refill everyone's water canteens. Not seeing a problem with getting a few minutes of strategy time with their majority alliance, the four others passed their water canteens to her and proceeded to the sea to wash up after the challenge.

"So," Sakura began, dipping her head back in the water to wet her pink locks of hair, "Konan, right? Easy vote?"

"Definitely," Karin replied without hesitation. "No need to stress ourselves out when there's an easy option."

Seeing Itachi give a small nod of agreement, Shikamaru shrugged. "Konan it is, then." Looks like tonight would not be so troublesome, which suited him just fine.

After submerging his face in the water and returning to the surface, Itachi pointed out, "We probably should spend the rest of today keeping an eye on Konan. She knows she's the next to go and might try to sabotage our plans."

"Yeah," Sakura sighed, noticing that Itachi had directed his comment towards her. "I'll go check on her. Make sure she's not trying anything funny or looking for an idol."

...

 _Konan found the idol._

That was the sole thought running through Sakura's mind as she came into the water well clearing and was greeted by the sight of Konan clutching a freshly unearthed hidden immunity idol.

Well, fuck. Maybe she really was starting to take after her mentor's abysmal gambling luck.

Before Sakura could compose herself and hide, she stumbled over a large twig on the jungle floor, causing Konan's head to snap over to her. Both kunoichi's eyes widened and they froze in unison, feeling very much like deer caught in the headlights.

After a couple of tense moments, the caw of a crow somewhere in the nearby foliage - they didn't care where, given the current predicament - brought the females back to their senses and the spell was broken. They laughed awkwardly and averted their eyes. Sakura played with her hair and Konan fiddled with the idol necklace in her hands.

"I, uh," Konan began, hesitantly holding up the idol for Sakura to peruse. "I found the idol."

It was a pretty looking thing. A large, smooth spiral shell hung from a long circle of rope, with several other smaller pieces of white shell adorning the remaining parts of the necklace. Sakura noted that Konan was also holding onto a piece of paper whose title read 'Congratulations! You've found the Hidden Immunity Idol'. This was an unlucky turn of events indeed.

The Konoha kunoichi nodded and smiled weakly. "Yes - yes you did."

Sensing that she had to do something - anything - to get her out of hot water, Konan blurted out, "I have a proposition."

"Oh?" That perked Sakura up.

"Let's work together," Konan continued. "I have nothing against you. In fact, I think you're a someone I would like to work with. Also, with this idol, I'll be happy to use it for you in the future if the vote is being cast for you."

That last statement caused Sakura's eyebrows to shoot up. "That's very generous of you, Konan-san."

"Take it as a proof of trust," the Akatsuki member replied. "Also, you can drop the honorific, Sakura-chan. Just call me Konan."

Sakura gave her a bright smile and a quick nod. "So, Konan," she said, "What do you want to do for tonight's tribal council?"

The blue haired lady shook her head. "No, Sakura-chan," she laughed. "It's up to you. Name whoever you want out, and we'll make it happen."

...

"Shikamaru!"

The sound of his name being hissed caused the lazy genius to crack open an eye. He was currently resting in the shelter, seeking shade from the hot sun. Itachi and Karin were out in the jungle setting hunting traps, so that meant that it was Sakura who was trying to catch his attention.

His eyes flew completely open as two dainty hands grasped his shirt and hauled his up to a sitting position with remarkable force. It was definitely Sakura. Glancing her way, Shikamaru was bewildered to see the urgency in her gaze. However, when he noticed a certain female Akatsuki member gingerly perched by his comrade's side, he knew it was going to get troublesome.

Casting a quick look around for Itachi or Karin, who were still absent, the Nara heir focused his full attention on the two women in front of him.

"Let me guess," he drawled. "You want to switch the vote to Karin."

The kunoichi shared a brief look of surprise, before grinning. "See?" Sakura said smugly. "Told you he's not a genius for nothing."

Konan agreed, impressed. "So we're all on the same page, then?" She asked hopefully.

"I guess you could say that," Shikamaru said. "May I ask why the switch?"

At Konan's nod, Sakura explained. "Konan found the hidden immunity idol. She's offered to share it."

In response, Shikamaru flashed a 'thumbs up' before laying down on his back again. He vaguely heard Sakura say a few words of encouragement to Konan, and several shuffling sounds that suggested the two were tending to the fire. Shutting his eyes, the master strategist began to collect his thoughts and digest the new bits of information presented to him.

Konan finding the idol definitely threw their plans in for a loop. As the situation now stood, he had two options. The first was to stick to the original plan and vote out Konan with Itachi and Karin. It could work if he blindsided Konan into thinking he was a hundred percent on her side, so that she would be sent packing together with the idol. However, that meant having to either convince Sakura to betray Konan (troublesome) or he would have to blindside Sakura in the process and potentially lose her trust (potentially more troublesome). It would also mean keeping Karin around, who was a very troublesome woman by nature, and would likely flip on him in the future.

His other option was to turn on his initial alliance and vote out Karin together with Sakura and Konan. He didn't trust the redhead one bit, so getting rid of her may not be a terrible idea. At the same time, voting Karin off meant keeping Konan and her idol in the game. Shikamaru wasn't naive; he knew that Konan was only offering to share her idol because she was backed up against a wall. He had no doubt that the blue haired kunoichi would only be pulling out the idol for herself, thus keeping her around may come back to bite him in the ass at a later date.

Shikamaru sighed. He supposed that an easy, no-fuss vote was really too much to ask for.

...

Itachi nodded his approval to Karin, satisfied with the hunting traps they had just set up. Turning around to head back to camp, the pair swung by the water well to get a quick sip of water first, as requested by the redhead.

While waiting for Karin to drink her fill, Itachi allowed his thoughts to wander briefly back to his amusing encounter yesterday at this very spot. After working with him for years in the Akatsuki, the Uchiha was rather disappointed that she had unwittingly fallen into his genjutsu so easily, let alone the fact that she didn't even think twice about meeting his sharingan-filled gaze.

 _"How was the fishing trip?" Konan asked, her voice unusually high. "Catch anything good?"_

 _Unaware of the genjutsu that had already ensnared her, Konan was voicing her frenzied thoughts out loud to Itachi without even realizing it._

 _"Just act normal! Distract and redirect him," She muttered. Itachi forced himself to remain impassive. "Don't think about the idol buried just a few steps away from you. Hide the clue, stay calm, and don't do anything to rouse his suspicion!" Her eyes kept darting to one particular patch of dirt on the jungle floor._

 _Unfortunately, it was too little too late for Konan. Itachi couldn't conceal the smirk that came to his lips. This was pure gold. "Yes," he chose to say. "The trip turned out very favorably."_

 _He was barely aware of her stuttered reply as she all but fled back to camp. After ensuring that she was long gone, Itachi immediately sprang into action, digging at the spot he was certain the idol was buried at._

 _After a minute of quick digging, Itachi's efforts were rewarded as he pulled out a bundle wrapped up in a piece of parchment. Unwrapping his prize, he first took a few seconds to read the words on the parchment, ensuring him that this was indeed the immunity idol that could be played after the votes have been cast, but before they were read. Finally, he turned his attention to the idol itself. It was plain and made of rope; its only feature was a large, blue Uzumaki spiral that adorned the center of the necklace._

 _Looking up into the jungle, Itachi executed a series rapid of hand signs. A few black crows formed on the branches of the trees surrounding the water well. They would do well to provide him with intel on his tribe mates' future movements._

 _With an uncharacteristic grin lighting up his entire face, Itachi pocketed the idol. He would tell no one about his find. He had already started planning to fashion a fake replacement for Konan to find. Hopefully everyone would believe that she possessed the idol, making her into an effective shield for him._

 _After all, a Uchiha Itachi with a hidden immunity idol would be viewed as too huge a threat to keep around._

"Okay, all done! Shall we head back?" Karin's voice jarred him out of his musings. Giving her a soft affirmative response, the pair began their short trek back to camp.

Glancing up to a tree, Itachi was pleased to see one of his crows perched on a branch. Eyeing Karin as she walked in front of him on the path, Itachi supposed he did not really care if Sakura and Shikamaru decided to take her out. In fact, he would prefer it as he would like Konan to hold on to the fake idol for as long as possible, as her doing so would ensure his secret was kept for a little bit longer.

Also, it had nothing to do with the fact that his fake idol was a work of art. Nothing at all, he told himself. After all, it only took several fishing trips, deep dives for shells, and an elite-level stealth to accomplish. Oh, and an eye for creative jewelry crafting that made the false idol look more legitimate than the real one. No big deal.

However, Itachi was painfully aware that he was not the one in control of tonight's vote. He still had to pretend that he only knew of the plan to make Konan the easy vote, and that he was in the dark about her (fake) idol. The one who held the power for this vote was Shikamaru.

* * *

 _Night_ _6 - Tribal Council_

"Welcome back to tribal council," Jiraiya greeted the Brain Tribe as they took their seats in the stands opposite him. "I must say, losing twice in a row - does that worry you?"

"Of course it does," Sakura stated. "No one wants to have to vote off another tribe member. After tonight, we'll be down two members and the other tribes still have all six."

The pervy sage nodded. "Very astute," he agreed. "Going along those lines, what is the criteria for tonight's vote? I mean, you're gonna need to really start winning challenges. And to do it with only four tribe members, you need to make sure you're keeping the right people in. What is your vote based on tonight, Karin?"

"My vote tonight is about keeping my alliance tight," the redhead declared, pushing up her glasses with her right hand. "You need to move forward with people you can trust in this game."

Her statement had Konan rolling her eyes. "Konan," Jiraiya singled her out. "You had a big reaction to that." He raised his eyebrows in question.

"Well, yes." The female Akatsuki member said, giving a humorless chuckle. "Let's be honest - I mean, we all know it already. Karin is talking about me," she said, pointing at herself. "I was the only one out of the five of us here who voted the wrong way last time."

"Oh?" Jiraiya's eye sparkled with curiosity. "Itachi, is what she said accurate?"

"Yes."

"Alright then," Jiraiya said, refocusing back to Konan. "The heat is on. How does that make you feel?"

"It makes me feel terrible, of course!" Konan admitted. "No one ever wants to be on the bottom. However, if tonight's vote is about keeping the people that you can trust, why am I the target?" She turned towards Sakura, addressing the pinkette. "Sakura, did you know that in the Sasori vote, Karin actually wanted to turn on you and vote you out, citing your feelings for Sasuke as the reason?"

"What?" Sakura exclaimed. This was news to her. She looked at Karin, demanding answers.

The redhead scoffed. "Please," she said. "Actions speak louder than words. I voted Sasori off, whereas Konan here wrote your name down. She did it once, she can do it again."

"You only voted Sasori out because that's what Itachi wanted you to do," Konan countered immediately. "By your logic, if you intended to betray Sakura once, you will do it again." Now directing her finger on Karin, Konan spoke with conviction, "Her loyalty is only to Sasuke. She's a fan girl. She only changed her vote last time to try and get an in with Itachi to get to Sasuke. If she gets the chance to be with Sasuke, she'll flip on all of us for him."

Before Karin could retort, Jiraiya cut in. "So Konan, it sounds like you're telling the tribe to keep you and vote Karin out. Why should they keep you?"

"I am loyal," the blue haired kunoichi answered immediately. Turning to appeal to her tribe, she continued, "If you all save me tonight, I will be one hundred percent with you. You three are all I have in this game. So go with me, who you know will never turn on you, as opposed to Karin who will ditch you for Sasuke just like that," she snapped her fingers to emphasize her point.

"Good argument," Jiraiya nodded. "What about you, Karin? What is your case to your tribe?"

"The four need to stay strong," the redhead declared. "I know Konoha places high value on camaraderie and loyalty. If you guys flip on me after just one vote, that is going to hurt your future game because it'll lose you respect. Perception is everything in this game. If you all stay strong with me, I promise that I will return your loyalty, with or without Sasuke."

"Another good point," Jiraiya agreed. "Shikamaru, tell us. What are you basing your vote on tonight?"

"Both women have made convincing cases," the Nara heir said, keeping his face void of emotions. "It's a tough choice, but my vote tonight will be about moving on in this game with a loyal four."

"With that," said Jiraiya, clapping his hands, "it is time to vote."

...

Konan felt as if she was sweating buckets as Jiraiya returned with the voting urn. She felt like she could maybe trust Sakura and Shikamaru, but a part of her was tempted to just play her idol to be certain.

Itachi stole a quick glance at his former Akatsuki comrade out of the corner of his eyes. He sincerely hoped that she would not play her idol. It would be too soon for that chaos. He turned his head to observe the other kunoichi on the chopping block for tonight.

Karin was very nervous. She had expected Konan to try to save herself by throwing someone else's name out, but she hadn't thought that it would be hers. She thought for sure that Konan would've attempted to shift the vote onto Sakura. However, the most she could do at this point was pray that her alliance would stay true and stick to their plan.

Opening the lid of the urn, Jiraiya stated, "If anyone has a hidden immunity idol and they would like to play it, now would be the time to do so."

Konan's fingers unconsciously twitched towards her pocket, where her idol was kept. She was torn. Could she truly trust Sakura and Shikamaru, or would she be walking out of the game looking like a complete fool?

Shikamaru's gaze was firmly fixed on Jiraiya, his expression guarded. Sakura, however, gave her a discreet smile. It was soft and reassuring. Konan's fingers stilled, and she folded her hands on her lap.

"Okay then, I'll read the votes." Jiraiya said, as he pulled out the first piece of parchment. "First vote: Konan."

Konan's heart sank, and it plummeted even lower as she registered Jiraiya announcing the second vote with her name also written down. She knew that she would receive two votes from Itachi and Karin, but did it really have to be such a goddamn nerve-wrecking experience?

"Third vote: Karin," Jiraiya read. "That's one vote Karin, and two votes Konan."

Karin scoffed. Konan could try all she want, but it would ultimately prove futile.

"Next vote: Karin," the redhead in question widened her eyes in surprise. Jiraiya was holding up the vote, which indeed had her name on it for the second time. "We're tied. One vote left."

Pulling out the fifth and final vote of the night, Jiraiya announced, "Second person voted out of Survivor: Ninja Edition - Karin."

Letting out a shriek of anger, Karin stood abruptly, snatched her torch, and marched up to the toad sage. After Jiraiya had snuffed her torch - "The tribe has spoken" - the infuriated female addressed her tribe.

"Go rot in hell," she spat at Sakura and Shikamaru. And solely to the pinkette, "Sasuke will never be yours, you fat ugly fuck."

As she turned sharply on her heel and strutted out of the hut, Jiraiya let out a low whistle and said, "Sounds like you guys made the right decision for the tribe. Hopefully, you can now get some momentum back. You need it. Grab your torches and head back to camp. Good night."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Thank you all for reading the second episode of Survivor: Ninja Edition! Every reader, reviewer, follower and favoriter really and truly makes my day. Please leave a review! I'd love to hear all your thoughts, questions, suggestions, ideas, theories etc etc about where this game will go. Again, this game is wide open. I haven't decided on a winner - I only go episode by episode. So you guys have a chance to inject your ideas into me ;)


	3. Freaky Meditation Pose

**Author's Note:**

Hi all! Merry (late) Christmas and Happy New Year! Sorry for the delay in update, just uprooted my life and moved continents while the holiday season was in full swing. No big deal. Anyway, here is the next episode! Let me know your thoughts, suggestions, predictions etc in the reviews. Enjoy!

Ep 2 Votes:

Voted for Konan - Itachi, Karin (2)  
Voted for Karin - Sakura, Shikamaru, Konan (3)

* * *

 **Survivor: Ninja Edition - Ep 3**

Freaky Meditation Pose

 _Night_ _6 - Brain Tribe_

Sakura heaved a sigh of relief as she approached camp with her tribe. It was a remarkably clear night; several stars dotted the darkened sky and the moonlight illuminated their surroundings sufficiently.

All in all, Sakura was very glad that everything had gone according to plan at tribal council. By choosing to flip with Shikamaru, they had saved Konan - and her idol - while sending Karin packing. The menace to Sakura was gone, and she now had a loyal ally in Konan. However, the biggest question was how Itachi would react, considering that he was left out of the vote.

Sneaking a glance at the Uchiha in question, Sakura observed as he easily rekindled the fire with a quick katon jutsu. His posture was casual, and expression relaxed. He seemed calm enough, although it was always hard to tell with someone like Itachi.

"Itachi-san," Sakura began, almost hesitating at his inquiring gaze. "I am sorry that we didn't tell you about the vote tonight. We had to keep Karin oblivious. I hope that us four can get along and work together from now on."

Seconds ticked away as Itachi's onyx colored eyes held Sakura's emerald ones. Finally, Itachi blinked and his expression eased into a smile.

"I know why you had to do it, Sakura-chan," he murmured gently, before his tone shifted to one of resolve. "Rest assured that the next person voted out will be someone other than the four of us here."

Nodding their agreement, the Brain Tribe prepared to turn in for the night. As he took his sleeping spot in the shelter beside Shikamaru, who was already snoring softly, Itachi shut his eyes and willed himself to sleep. It was hard to shut off his mind, inside which his thoughts were racing a mile a minute.

Everything did go in accordance to the plan. _His_ plan, for that matter. But Itachi was still uneasy. With tonight's vote, Sakura and Shikamaru showed their capability to go against him. He would let it slide this once, considering that it had to play out for the sake of his fake idol plan and long term game. He would have to be on his toes, though; Shikamaru and Sakura were smart.

He would be watching them closely from now on.

* * *

 _Day 7 - Beauty Tribe_

Ino awoke to the sound of birds chirping in the distance. Slowly opening her eyes, she registered the still slightly darkened sky. The sun had only just begun to rise, painting a beautiful pattern of light and shadowed clouds on the horizon.

Sitting up carefully, Ino noted that she was the first to rise today. She didn't mind; she always took interest in observing the sleeping habits of her tribemates whenever she got the chance. Being a master in psychology, she learned from young that the way a person slept could be more telling than how they behaved when awake. And her tribe had kept the same sleeping positions since Day 1.

Glancing to her left, Ino noted the familiar form of Kurenai lying on her side, facing away from her. The genjutsu mistress always insisted on sleeping at the end of the shelter, and next to Ino, the only other female on the tribe. She had never explicitly asked, but Ino had a theory that this behaviour had something to do with Kurenai's relationship with Asuma. There were bound to be scars from that, but Ino was tactful enough to know it was not her place to pry.

Turning her gaze to her right, Ino amusedly realized that Deidara was still tightly wrapped around her. When she had sat up, he had unconsciously shifted from their previous spooning position into a fetal pose surrounding her with his arms clutching her around her waist. Ino nodded to herself. _You go, girl. You definitely have that one eating out of the palm of your hand._

Next in line was Haku, sleeping perfectly still, maintaining the exact same position that he had fallen asleep in. From the past week of getting to know him, Ino was pretty sure that Haku preferred men over women. Call it intuition. But more importantly, his sleeping spot showed where Haku stood in the Sasuke-Kakashi-Haku pecking order. The three of them were obviously in an alliance; they shared something on that bridge years ago that no one else in this tribe had. However, Haku clearly held no power in the alliance as he always slept next to Deidara (and it was clear the trio weren't the fondest of him), leaving a small but obvious gap between him and the eccentric artist. Also, Kakashi and Sasuke were Team 7. That team was the most... _Konoha_ out of all the ninja squads in Konoha. Enough said.

Kakashi slept in between Haku and Sasuke, who was on the other end of the shelter. She couldn't quite put her finger on Kakashi yet. Her father had always told her he was a quirky one. Although, from what she had observed of him thus far, he was the only one able to keep Sasuke in check, and Kurenai implicitly trusted him because of some sort of fellow jonin-sensei bond. He had Haku in his pocket, because where else could the boy go in this tribe? Even Deidara acknowledged him as a shinobi worth his salt. In short, Hatake Kakashi had somehow become the Beauty Tribe's queen bee. Ino couldn't figure out how he did it – he disappeared for hours at a time just to come back and cite some lame ass excuse like having to take the long way around a black cat (there were _no_ black cats here for crying out loud!) and always had his face buried in that blasted orange book. But no, everyone just laughed that he was being _Kakashi,_ and kept on placing him on a pedestal.

Finally, Ino set her eyes on Sasuke. Dear ol' Sasuke- _kun_. A wicked smile graced her pretty features as she recalled with glee at how much torment she had put him through for the past week or so. Contrary to popular belief, Ino wasn't just a dumb blonde with big tits. Her father raised and taught her better than that. She was, in short, the Shikamaru equivalent in social know-how; she understood people and their thought processes. And when Sasuke had dismissed her on the first day, she knew that he was a lost cause to her. However, she had relentlessly continued her assaults on him with good reason – did that boy seriously think she was going to let him find an idol that easily? She knew that Sasuke would never want to align with her, and so she played the part of the vapid fangirl, knowing that the more surly Sasuke became around camp, the more he'd start to alienate others against him. It was already showing results with Kurenai.

Ino raised her arms above her head, stretching out as she yawned. The movement caused Deidara to stir, and his face lit up the moment he laid his eyes on her.

"What a great view to wake up to, un," he muttered softly, not wanting to rouse his other tribemates yet.

Ino played with her hair and let out a girlish giggle as she allowed her fellow blonde to plant a light kiss on her cheek – with each of his three mouths.

"I could say the same," she whispered back, before playfully shrugging off his advances and sauntering out of the shelter. She made sure to look back and lock eyes with Deidara, who was eyeing her form with appreciation. Smirking, she whipped her head forward and, very deliberately, bent over to tend to the fire. The spluttered exclamation she heard from Deidara was music to her ears.

Ino was used to being underestimated; it was a common tactic employed by kunoichi, and she would use it to her advantage in this game. After all, who would ever think that the little pretty bouncy blonde was a threat?

* * *

 _Day 7 - Brawn Tribe_

Temari was sprinting through the tree tops in the dense jungle foliage. She had been going non-stop for the past twenty minutes, eyes scanning her surroundings frantically. She estimated that she had maybe five (ten?) minutes at most before someone came to check in on her. After all, collecting firewood didn't take long to complete for a ninja.

To her credit, Temari did have a large bundle of firewood in her arms and strapped to her back. However, she was taking all the extra time she could to search for the hidden immunity idol. With the Brawn Tribe, one had to take any opportunity they could get; alone time was infrequent and short-lived.

The blonde Suna nin sighed as she sensed a chakra signature approaching her location at a rapid pace. Her time was up, then. No luck today.

"TEMARI-CHAN!" Came the booming voice of Maito Gai. "I was sent to see if you required any assistance on your quest for firewood, but alas, it seems that your fires of youth burn as bright as ever!"

Konoha's Green Beast gestured proudly to the sizeable stack of wood she had gathered. Plastering a smile onto her face, Temari passed half of her spoils to Gai and turned around to head back to camp with him.

As they jogged their way to camp together, Temari allowed herself to laugh at Gai's boisterous mannerisms and attempts at humor. Inside, however, she was torn between frustration and affection for her well-meaning but overbearing tribe mates.

On a surface level, the Brawn Tribe was a strong, happy tribe. Every single member got along well, pulled their weight around camp and delivered in challenges. On the flip side, they took the whole camaraderie thing a bit _too_ far. With people like Naruto and Gai around, the tribe was sold on the notion that the six of them were family. Inseparable, precious, forever. Naruto just had that sort of Jesus-effect on people, even extra-seasoned killers like Kisame, to a certain extent. Temari knew - as did the others, she assumed - that this ruse wouldn't last in a game like Survivor, but everyone (including herself) didn't have the heart to refuse Naruto. His conviction, together with Gai's, made her want to believe them.

Coming back to the present, Temari realized that they had arrived at camp. Setting down her pile of logs, she had barely straightened back up when her senses were assaulted by a lot of blonde and orange.

"Temari!" Naruto sniffled as he latched onto his friend. "I was worried when you were gone for so long! But thank you for getting more wood, dattebayo!"

Ruffling a hand through the jinchuriki's hair, Temari couldn't stop a fond grin from coming to her face. So he was having one of his 'I-miss-ramen-so-I'm-getting-extra-emotional' days. "You don't need to worry," Temari said. "I'm tough!"

Naruto released her from his bear hug and gave her a dazzling smile. Temari was slightly dazed - those grins were almost impossible to resist - when a fist promptly landed on the side of Naruto's head.

"Baka!" Anko, the source of the fist, chided.

"Ouch!" Naruto exclaimed, rubbing the sore spot. "What was that for, dammit?!"

"It's weird when you get all emotional over the smallest thing!" Anko shot back. "I'm not used to you moping around instead of farting out rainbows and sunshine as you normally do."

Shaking her head in amusement, Temari headed over to the sea to wash off the mud from her earlier jungle trek. At the shore, she ran into Kisame, who was just emerging from his fishing trip.

Nodding at the bucket in his hand, Temari broke into a smile. They would have full stomachs today.

"Nice catch," she complimented honestly. "Filled to the brim."

Kisame grunted in response, offering his fist to her. With a quick glance behind her to ensure that everyone else was still distracted by Anko and Naruto, Temari brought her fist to meet her companion's.

After executing what had become their customary secret alliance handshake, Kisame gave her a small smile and headed up to camp. Temari watched his retreating form as she submerged herself into the cool seawater.

As she scrubbed the dirt off her limbs, Temari decided that she was rather proud of herself. Her alliance with Kisame that was forged on Day 1 was still standing strong; their secret alliance handshake was proof of that. Somewhere along the way, Kisame had found an in with Anko, while she had managed to make Naruto see herself as a part of the family, which was significant as Naruto held a lot of social influence on the tribe.

She was doing well, and she was very happy about that. However, Temari also knew that something would have to give eventually. She was definitely not looking forward to the moment when they would have to vote out one of their own.

* * *

 _Day 8 - Immunity Challenge_

"Come on in, guys!" Jiraiya called, signalling the entrance of the Brawn and Beauty Tribes.

The toad sage was standing atop a particularly large rock in the middle of a gigantic beach. It was a beautiful sunny day, the light reflecting off the crystal clear water of the ocean, where several obstacles and three floating platforms were built into the sea. On the other side of the shoreline, three large tables were situated in soft white sand, about twenty metres from the water. There were also three tall vertical cylindrical structures on the beach.

"Brawn and Beauty Tribes, you are now getting your first look at the new Brain Tribe," Jiraiya announced as the Brain Tribe trekked in behind everyone else. "Karin was voted off at the last tribal council."

The news was met with minimal reaction; no one was particularly sorry to see the volatile redhead gone. Even Sasuke looked entirely indifferent, his expression the same as if he was just told that the sky was blue.

"So let's get down to business," Jiraiya plowed on. "Today's immunity challenge will be run like a relay race. Four members from each tribe will compete. The first will race from the shore across a series of obstacles, before they will reach the platform. If you fall, you have to start over from the obstacle you failed to complete. Upon reaching the platform, they will then dive down to retrieve five buoys, each deeper than the last. This is a test of speed and stamina; whoever does this phase of the challenge will have your chakra sealed."

Scanning the obstacles in the ocean, the ninja noted that there were three for each tribe to cross before they reached the platform. The first obstacle was an extremely narrow balance beam that zig zagged and inclined in many areas. Next was a large net that extended seven metres high. Lastly, there were ten small floating squares made of wood, shifting in the water periodically due to the strong currents synonymous with Uzushiogakure.

"The second tribe member begins on the platform," Jiraiya continued. "You will stack the five buoys on top of each other, and balance them atop your head with chakra. You will have to make your way back to shore and across the obstacles like this. If you fall, you'll have to restart that obstacle. This is a test of control and patience."

Now motioning to the cylindrical structures on the beach, Jiraiya said, "The third member will take the buoys and toss all them like basketballs into these. A test of precision, or perhaps luck in some cases."

"Once all the buoys are in, it will release a key that the final tribe member will use to unlock a chest," Jiraiya pointed to one of the large tables, where a large chest was tucked away beneath it. "Inside the chest are tiles, each with one letter of the alphabet printed on it. The last member of the tribe will use all twenty one pieces to solve a four-word puzzle; a test for the mind."

"Oh! One last thing," Jiraiya added casually, halting the ninja from breaking off to start strategizing. "This is a winner-takes-all challenge. The first tribe to complete the challenge wins immunity and will have an impressive sushi buffet spread waiting for them back at camp. The two other tribes will have double the fun with me tonight at tribal council."

...

"Alright!" Jiraiya shouted. "For the Brain Tribe, we have Itachi up first, followed by Sakura, Konan and Shikamaru for the puzzle. Representing the Brawn Tribe is Kisame, then Hanabi, Gai and finally Temari. The Beauty Tribe is starting with Sasuke, followed by Kurenai, Deidara and Kakashi."

Kisame stood at the shoreline, waiting for the challenge to begin. Glancing at the two Uchiha on either side of him, the swordsman let out a chuckle. Itachi looked impassive as ever, only focused on his impending task. Sasuke, on the other hand, kept stealing glances at his older brother, looking very determined to prove himself.

"Oi, Itachi," Kisame called. "This'll be just like old times, eh? Although," he jerked a thumb behind his back towards Sasuke, "I'm starting to feel like the third wheel here."

His jab was met with two different 'hn's. One was slightly amused, while the other sounded indignant.

Before he could do anything else, Jiraiya's voice signalled the start of the challenge.

"Survivors ready? GO!"

The three ninja sprung into action immediately and attacked the obstacle course. Kisame, being bulkier in stature and slightly slower than both Uchiha, began to lag behind. Among the brothers, Itachi's speed was clearly superior, as he took the obvious lead, irking Sasuke to no end.

By the time Kisame cleared the final obstacle (did those damn wooden squares have to be so tiny?), Itachi had already dove down to retrieve his third buoy, whereas Sasuke had just emerged with his first.

Back on the beach at the sit-out bench, Naruto was whooping and hollering exuberantly for his team. Tuning the noisy future-Hokage out, Ino rested her chin in her palm as she observed the action with a sigh.

"It's not fair," she whispered to herself wistfully. "How do all Uchiha men have unrivalled poise and immaculate hair, even in the water?"

"I know right," came Haku's equally breathy response.

Ino whipped her head to regard her tribe mate with wide eyes. "I knew it!"

"What?" Haku looked startled at her fervent proclamation.

Ino was saved from having to respond when Naruto let out a particularly loud cheer.

"KISAME! You the man! Fish! Er… Man-fish! Fish-man!"

It appeared that Kisame had caught up to Itachi by retrieving all five buoys in a single breath. Hanabi and Sakura were now attempting to stack the buoys on their heads. The Hyuuga's stack immediately collapsed, while Sakura's held steady as she made her attempt back to shore.

"Huh," Ino snickered. "Who knew that Forehead's billboard brow would be so useful?"

Sure enough, Sakura's superior chakra control and her genetic advantage saw her tribe in the lead once again. By the time Kurenai had figured out how to get her stack of buoys somewhat stable, the pink haired medic was already scaling up the net in the middle obstacle, while Hanabi let out a curse as she faltered towards the end of the moving wooden squares and had to start over.

Over by the beach, Shikamaru leaned against his table casually as he waited for his turn. He was very aware of the occasional competitive glares he received from Temari, whose table was to his right. Troublesome, but it wouldn't matter in the end. Losing was not an option for his tribe this time.

"Konan!" Sakura yelled, breaking the Nara out of his musing. She had just reached the shore and passed the buoys over to Konan, who immediately began taking aim.

Checking the other tribes' progress as she turned around and caught her breath, Sakura was very pleased to note that she had given her team a huge lead. Kurenai dropped her stack of buoys at the top of the net obstacle, and Hanabi was crossing the balance beam at a snail's pace, her buoys wobbling precariously.

Turning her attention back to her tribe, Sakura let out a cheer as she watched Konan sink the first buoy into the cylinder. However, the elation was short-lived as the second score seemed to elude Konan.

By the time Konan had sunk her second buoy, both tribes had caught up to her station, with Deidara and Gai frantically chucking buoys at their cylinders. It was Gai that took the lead for the Brawn Tribe, as he discovered that jumping five feet up in the air before taking aim was much more efficient than his previous attempts.

Sakura suppressed a groan as she watched Temari unlock her chest and begin pulling out tiles to solve the word puzzle. Both Konan and Deidara were looking for their final goal.

In the end, Deidara landed his buoy a second before Konan did hers, leaving Kakashi and Shikamaru scrambling to unlock their tiles as quickly as possible. Sneaking a peak at the tiles that Shikamaru laid out on his table, Sakura made out a mess of letters.

YDTTSAANHGEFFEATOTSNI

After taking a quick glance at the tiles in front of him, Shikamaru assumed a very familiar pose. Shutting his eyes, the lazy genius knelt close to the sand, his hands in front of his stomach with his fingers forming an upside down 'O' shape.

Sakura held up a hand to silence Konan, who was just about to yell at Shikamaru and tell him to focus on the puzzle. The blue haired kunoichi was glancing anxiously between Shikamaru and the other tribes, where Kakashi and Temari were frantically trying out various word combinations. Kakashi looked like he was onto something good.

"Trust me," Sakura whispered to her teammate. "Shikamaru is at his most dangerous when he assumes this particular pose."

Almost as if an invisible light bulb had appeared over his head, Shikamaru sprung up onto his feet and began to arrange his tiles at a rapid pace. Curious, the two kunoichi on the Brain Tribe edged as close as the challenge rules allowed them to, watching their tribe mate's actions. His hands flew across the table, placing tiles with deliberate motions. They watched, transfixed, as the word puzzle came together before their eyes.

"Done."

With that, Shikamaru folded his arms behind his head and let out a huge yawn. Jiraiya ran over to check the puzzle.

"Read it out," the toad sage told him.

By now, every single ninja was quiet and focused on Shikamaru. Not bothering to change his posture, the Nara heir sighed, before looking Jiraiya dead in the eye and smugly stating, "It says, 'Safety and Feast Tonight'."

"That's right!" Jiraiya cried. "The Brain Tribe is indeed safe tonight, and will feast on sushi back at their camp!"

Sakura and Konan let out squeals of delight, gathering Shikamaru and a newly arrived Itachi into a huge group hug. Without a single glance back, the foursome headed back to their camp, a new spring in their step.

"Well then," Jiraiya addressed the remaining shinobi, noting their various expressions of frustration, disappointment and sadness. "The bad news is, both tribes are going to have their first tribal council tonight. The potentially good news is, you'll come to tribal council _together_ , where both tribes will vote out _one_ person."

* * *

 _Day 8 - Beauty Tribe_

"Shit, man, that challenge sucked balls," Deidara groaned as he trudged into camp and sat himself down by the fire.

"Mhmm," Ino agreed absentmindedly, chucking some logs into the fire pit. "We all knew that we were toast once Shikamaru did his freaky meditation pose."

Kurenai shook her head. "Well, there's a bright side, right?" the genjutsu mistress said, pausing to take a swig of water before joining the pair. "There's a chance that none of us will be voted out. If we play it right, we could get someone from Brawn out."

"True," Ino straightened up.

"Easy," Kakashi agreed, as he, Sasuke and Haku joined the others and took a seat. "We just need to target someone in the Brawn Tribe that we think would make one of their own flip to us and vote them out."

There were murmurs of agreement as everyone mulled it over. It did seem like a feasible idea.

"What if they have an idol?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, right!" Kakashi's palm slapped the side of his head. "Did anyone here manage to find an idol?"

His question was met with silence. Sasuke leveled a glare at Ino.

"What?" she shrugged, smiling innocently. "Guess you don't have it, ne, Sasuke-kun?"

"So no one has it, then," Kakashi interjected, before an argument broke out. They were running on limited time here.

"Yeah, suppose not," Kurenai said. "We can't afford to waste any time or effort searching now, considering no one has been successful over the last week."

Deidara clapped his hands loudly. "So it's settled then, yeah," he decided. "We just stick to the plan of targeting a target. Now who will it be?"

"Well," Haku mused, "What are our options? Naruto, Gai, Kisame, Anko, Temari or Hanabi?"

There were a few moments of silence as all six ninja considered their options. Ino absentmindedly poked at the fire with a stick. Kakashi caused a small explosion of more fire with a single hand seal. Ino glared at him.

"Kisame," stated Kurenai.

"Four Konoha nin, one Suna, and Kisame," Sasuke muttered, giving some thought to the suggestion.

Kakashi avoided Ino's glare. "Could work," he said. "Kisame could easily be seen as the bad guy to target, considering Konoha and Suna were fighting against Akatsuki."

Deidara's expression tightened, not liking the suggestion. That logic could easily point the fingers towards him in the future. However, there was little he could do to refute the plan, lest he expose himself as another potential 'bad guy'.

Kurenai's eyes widened. "Kisame is the perfect target!" she exclaimed. "I mean, he spent _year_ _s_ chasing Naruto around, trying to capture him and everything."

"Not to mention he and Gai have exchanged blows several times," Kakashi agreed, then hesitated. "Although in Gai's case, I'm not sure if he remembers."

"So Naruto is the one we need to convince to flip," Sasuke concluded. "The question is how. Naruto isn't the most subtle of ninja; we can't have him alerting the whole tribe of our plans and risk an idol being played."

"We need a Plan B," Ino added thoughtfully. "In case everything goes to shit, we switch the vote to Temari."

"Agreed," Deidara said immediately. "Good idea."

"That still doesn't answer the question of _how_ we convince Naruto, though," Haku pointed out.

Kakashi stared across the fire at Ino. "I have an idea about that."

...

Sasuke cornered his former sensei by the water well. Slapping his palms on either side of the well, the angsty Uchiha sent a death glare towards Kakashi.

"I don't like this plan," he ground out.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, placidly continuing his ministrations of filling his water canteen. "Hm?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Kakashi," Sasuke growled. "Why'd you put Ino in charge of convincing Naruto? I don't trust her. Why not either one of us? We know him way better."

"That's because the Yamanaka clan techniques are a hundred times more subtle than anything anyone else could do," Kakashi sighed. "Weren't you listening when we went over this with everyone just now? Something about not letting the rest of the Brawn Tribe in on it?"

"Of course I was!" Sasuke was clenching the stone well so hard that his knuckles were now white. "That's the exact problem. You told her to link her mind with Naruto's. How do we know for sure what they'll be talking about? She could be using it to flip on one of us instead!"

Kakashi shook his head. "She isn't _that_ dumb, Sasuke," he replied. "Doing that would pit the rest of us against her, and she'll be the next to go. Her only option is to use her abilities to help us."

"I still don't like it," Sasuke was now crossing his arms. "She's dangerous. Now that you've gone and put this mind linking idea in her head, she could use it to gain all sorts of information throughout this game!"

Kakashi sighed again. Sasuke did make a fair point; having Yamanaka techniques seemed almost unfair in a game like Survivor, although some could say the same thing for other bloodlines or specialized clan techniques.

"Okay," the copy nin held his hands up in placation. "How about this..."

...

"Ino-chan," Deidara called out gently.

He had found her in the water by the rocks at the far side of the beach. She had a thin layer of sand covering her arms and torso.

"Dei-kun," she greeted. "Wanna help me with my sand exfoliation bath?"

With a wide grin, Deidara closed the gap between him and the tempting blonde. He could never resist a chance to get his hands all over her. However, as he began rubbing sand over her back, his smile faded and was replaced with a worried, contemplative look.

"I'm worried," Deidara admitted.

"Worried?" Ino shifted slightly to look at him over her shoulder. "About tonight?"

"Yeah, you could say that," he mumbled. Then in a more audible voice, "I don't like how our tribe painted Kisame as the outsider straightaway."

Turning her body around to fully face him this time, Ino took his hands in hers, speaking in a soothing tone.

"Are you worried about the same thing happening to you?"

Deidara nodded. He loved that Ino was so perceptive; it would make his objective for this conversation so much easier to achieve. He had to make sure that Kisame was safe tonight. The shark man was definitely a potential number for Deidara to work with in the future, and having the perception of 'get rid of all non-Konoha people first' was detrimental to his game for obvious reasons.

"Yeah I am," the explosives expert lowered his gaze from Ino's bright blue eyes, then shifted it back up. That second view was entirely too distracting. "I want to stay in this game and I'm afraid that if Kisame goes this fast, it'll be me next."

The former Iwa nin knew that it might be a mistake to be this open with Ino, but he forced himself to relax as he felt her run her hands along his arms in a soothing motion. He needed the Yamanaka to believe without a doubt that she was his one and only ally. In doing so, Ino would always fight tooth and nail for his spot in the game as she would perceive him to be unshakably loyal to her. The fact that she was also a Konoha nin - who held the vast majority of numbers - only increased his resolve to say his next words.

"More importantly though, I got to meet you, yeah," Deidara blushed, but he pushed on. "I've never had a real friend since I became a missing nin. I didn't think I'd ever get along with another person so well, let alone someone from Konoha," he let out a small chuckle. "I don't want to be voted out if it means that my time with you gets cut short."

Whether it was because he felt guilt at deceiving her, or fear of his plan being exposed, or (Kami forbid) he was actually starting to like her for real - he wasn't sure. But Deidara knew that he was unable to bear the sight of her large, pretty eyes staring at his with a mixture of shock, tenderness and conflict, so he pulled Ino into a tight hug. Weaving his fingers through her long hair, he smiled when he felt her return the embrace.

"Dei-kun," Ino said, her voice filled with authority. She broke the embrace, held him at arm's length, and looked him dead in the eye. "I will not let anything happen to you."

At Deidara's stunned expression, she continued. "I will do what the tribe wants, because my hands are tied on that matter. I do hope that Plan B will somehow get put into action, although I can't guarantee that. But, no matter the result of tonight, I won't ever turn my back on you."

Deidara was speechless. He was torn between smug elation at pulling off his objective so well, and crying because no one had said such lovely things to him in the longest time. He opened his mouth a couple times, but no sounds came out. Watching the humorous and slightly adorable display, Ino started to giggle.

The sound of her laughter broke Deidara out of his stupor. Narrowing his eyes in playfulness, Deidara pulled the gorgeous female into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips.

 _A kiss to seal the deal,_ he told himself as he felt Ino respond. _That's all it is._

* * *

 _Day 8 - Brawn Tribe_

As soon as the six ninja arrived back at camp, Naruto placed his hands in a familiar hand seal and summoned close to a hundred shadow clones.

"I'm going to find that idol, dattebayo!"

With that declaration, the horde of Uzumakis took off into the forest, leaving the original Naruto in the camp with his slightly stunned tribe members gaping at him.

"What?" he asked, plopping himself down in the shelter casually. "That idol could be the thing that saves us tonight!"

"YOSH! Right you are, my boy!" Gai was the first to recover from shock, unsurprisingly. "We'll use it to save whoever needs it and send one of theirs home!"

Gai's enthusiasm had summoned Naruto back onto his feet, and the pair had linked hands and were now prancing around the fire in celebration of their new plan.

"Baka!" Anko's fists had found both of their heads. "Celebrate only when we've come back from tribal council will all six of us still here!"

"Yeah," Kisame agreed, "We still need to decide which one of them to target."

"Not to mention _how_ we'll even manage to get them to tell us who they're targeting," Temari added, joining the growing circle.

Hanabi piped up, "Well, that's _if_ we even find the idol."

Naruto pointed his finger dramatically at Hanabi, "Wait! You can use your Byakugan to help me search for it quicker!"

The young Hyuuga resisted the urge to sigh as the felt five pairs of eyes looking at her expectantly. She had hoped that no one would point out how her bloodline actually gave her several rather unfair advantages in the game. She didn't want to be viewed as a threat too early on, and if people started to realize her dojutsu could help her sniff out idols quickly, as well as determine who else was in possession of an idol, or even spy on others, she knew she could find herself in hot water fairly quickly.

"Fine," she said simply. Better to skew their perception of her into someone who was a very useful and obedient ally, instead of a potential threat. However, she felt as though she still needed to say something to downplay herself. "But my range of vision is still developing. It doesn't extend as far as some of the other Hyuuga that you might have worked with before."

Naruto waved a hand cheerfully. "Don't worry, Hanabi! We believe in you!"

Giving a small smile, the girl in question nodded and departed for the jungle with an activated byakugan.

Watching her tribe mate disappear behind the treeline, Anko said, "So, who are we going to target?" Her smile was almost vicious. "We should vote out someone who is a strong, well-rounded player. Cripple their tribe, essentially."

Kisame really wanted to suggest Kakashi or Sasuke - they were huge threats and the obvious choices - but one look at Naruto, who was deep in thought, made him throw out a different name instead.

"Ino," he grunted.

Temari gave him a dubious look. "Ino? Are you for real? What about Deidara or even Sa-"

"Think about it for a second," Kisame held up a hand and cut her off before she could trigger Naruto. "She may not be the biggest physical threat, but she is a huge social and strategic threat. Her spooky mind-reading techniques are a scary thing to go against. And for fuck's sake, even _I_ know her reputation as Konoha's biggest gossip! For people to know you're a gossip but still tell you all their shit - that's a social threat right there!"

"That's actually pretty accurate," Anko said, slightly stunned. "I've never noticed it that way, but I think you're right. We can handle the physical threats, but I'm less confident going against a player like Ino."

"Sounds good to me," Temari agreed, not particularly fussed now that she knew the logic behind the choice. "Naruto? Gai?"

Nodding in an uncharacteristically serious fashion, Gai declared, "Ino it is, then!"

Naruto was slightly conflicted. His principles as a human were screaming at him that Ino was a fellow Konoha comrade and that he should not betray her, but he had come into this adventure knowing that it was a game. And part of the game was voting people out. He knew that he'd have to possibly vote a precious person out sooner or later, so did it really matter if he voted Ino out first instead of someone like Deidara?

Making up his mind, Naruto gave his tribe a thumbs up. "I'm voting Ino," he declared. "You have my word!" He would have to side with his new temporary family for this vote. At least it wasn't Sasuke or Kakashi.

Satisfied with Naruto's answer (everyone knew that he would never go back on his word), his tribe moved on to the next topic.

"What if the other tribe has an idol?" Asked Temari.

"You mean like this one?" A chorus of Narutos yelled at the same time.

Emerging from the trees were a dozen Naruto clones and Hanabi, all wearing looks of pride and satisfaction. The Naruto leading the group held up a necklace for the tribe to inspect; it was a large, red colored Uzumaki spiral strung up using rope. Walking just a step behind the lead Naruto clone was Hanabi, clutching a piece of parchment containing the idol rules, proving its legitimacy.

The Brawn Tribe erupted into cheers as the clones tossed the idol to the real Naruto and dispelled themselves.

"Your flames of youth burn brightly indeed!" Gai praised. "Where did you find it? And so quickly, at that!"

"By the water well," Hanabi explained. "It was buried in a patch of dirt."

What she didn't explain was that the patch of dirt was in a completely random spot; one wouldn't have been able to find it unless they had a clue or a Byakugan. But they didn't need to know that, and she was pretty sure that Naruto had more urgent matters to focus on rather than replaying and analyzing their idol hunt.

"This idol will be used for whoever the other tribe votes for tonight!" Naruto emphasized as he pocketed it.

"Alright, so back to our discussion," Anko said excitedly. "I say that at tribal tonight, we pretend to target Deidara, but we all put Ino's name down."

"Good plan," Hanabi said, not bothered about voting Ino out. She barely knew the girl. "Deidara's a good scapegoat - he's loud, boisterous and a physical threat. They'll believe we're really after him and trying to sway them to vote him out too."

"So Ino, but undercover," Naruto summarized.

At Naruto's statement, Anko fixed her gaze on him, her eyes twinkling. "That's it! Great idea, Naruto!"

"Huh?" the blonde replied, not following.

"You'll also go undercover," Anko elaborated. "When we go to tribal, sit as near as you can to the other tribe. When you get the chance ask one of them - preferably your baka sensei or emo prince - who they're voting for, just say that your loyalty lies with them."

"That could work," Temari exclaimed excitedly. "Out of all of us, you have the best chance at convincing them, Naruto!"

Naruto took a second to think it over. It was true that out of his tribe, he had the best rapport with the members of the Beauty Tribe minus Deidara. If he could get in touch with Sasuke or Kakashi, they would definitely trust him. If he pulled this off, it would be pretty epic, but could he bring himself to deceive his precious people like that?

"Think of it as pranking your old teammates!" Gai suggested.

It was that statement that convinced Naruto to go along with the plan. "Yosh!" He shouted, taking a leaf from the taijutsu master's book. "I'll do it! It'll be fun!"

"May your youth burn brightly forever!" Gai cried tears of happiness. "Tonight will be a triple undercover night! First with the undercover vote, then Naruto going undercover, and finally when we uncover our idol!"

Hanabi shook her head amusedly as she watched Naruto and Gai begin to dance around the fire again. She was definitely nervous about tribal council, as their plan seemed to rely heavily on Naruto, also known as Uzumaki no-such-thing-as-subtlety Naruto.

She just hoped that his reputation of Number One Surprising Ninja held true, but in the Brawn Tribe's favor.

* * *

 _Night_ _8 - Tribal Council_

"Well, come on in, everyone!" Jiraiya grinned as he welcomed the ninja into the tribal council hut. "Looks like we're going to have twice the fun tonight, eh?"

Directing the crowd to the large fire pit in the middle of the hut, Jiraiya continued, "As this is all your first time at tribal council, grab your torch, dip it into the flames and get fire."

Watching as the shinobi obediently followed his instructions, the toad sage carried on with, "In this game, fire represents your life. When your fire's gone, so are you."

As the tribes took their seats on the benches, Naruto discreetly sat himself in the centre of the back row. Kisame sat to his left, while Kakashi was to his right.

"So, let's get started, shall we?" Jiraiya proceeded once everyone had taken a spot on the bench. "It's been a week into the game. Anko - what is life like on the Brawn Tribe?"

"It's fantastic," Anko replied confidently. "We're literally like a big happy family. Everyone gets along well, everyone works hard around camp and we're having lots of fun. It gets a bit rowdy some times but we like it that way."

"Really?" Jiraiya looked a little bit skeptical. "So you are saying that there has been zero conflict at all?"

"It's true!" Gai piped up. "We have had zero quarrels. Each of us has brightly burning flames that when combined, burns even brighter!"

"What Gai means to say is that we are a united tribe," Temari translated.

Deidara let out a small scoff, turning Jiraiya's attention onto him. "You had a bit of a reaction to that, Deidara," the Sannin said. "What's up?"

"It's cute that they think they're one big family, yeah," Deidara smirked. "Cracks will always appear in a game like this eventually, though."

"You're just jealous," Naruto blew a raspberry at the Iwa missing nin.

"Very mature," Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Well let's get to the Beauty Tribe, then," Jiraiya directed, before he let out a lecherous giggle. "What's it like to be on the Beauty Tribe, Kurenai?"

"Pretty good," the genjutsu mistress answered. "We have no complaints with each other."

"There's a lot of flirting going on," Ino added playfully, leaning forward in her seat. "But of course you'd expect something like that from us, wouldn't you, Jiraiya-sama?"

Distracted by Ino batting her long eyelashes at him, as well as other enticing views that her leaning forward had graced him with, Jiraiya failed to probe further and argue that both tribes were essentially unwilling to share any useful information. Noticing this, Kisame exchanged glances with Anko, who was sitting on his other side, as if to silently agree that Ino was indeed a threat if she could even play Jiraiya, who was supposed to be the impartial host, for crying out loud.

"Ah, very good," Jiraiya chortled, regaining his ability to speak once Ino had straightened back up. "So tonight is a very interesting situation, eh? Six versus six. How do you ensure your tribe walks out with all six?"

"Target someone on the other tribe that you think will cause one of their own to turn on them," Kakashi stated, "Or correctly play an idol to save your own tribe mate that is being targeted."

"Solid answer," Jiraiya nodded his approval. "Let's focus on the first idea for now. Beauty Tribe - who are you targeting tonight?"

"We are targeting someone who is an outsider on the Brawn Tribe," Haku supplied vaguely. "This person has clashed numerous times with other members of the Brawn Tribe before this game even started."

"On that train of thought, the only one I can think of with such a history on the Brawn Tribe is Kisame," Jiraiya reasoned, directing his focus to the blue man. "Kisame, do you feel like you are in danger tonight?"

"Not at all," the shark man stated confidently. "Since I've got to know these people, we've come to truly respect each other. Our tribe is strong, and I trust my tribe mates fully."

While Kisame was giving his response, Ino set up her mind-link with Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke. The Copy Nin had approached her minutes before they left for tribal council, asking her to include himself and Sasuke in the conversation. She had no option but to accept, as he told her that he and Sasuke knew how to sway Naruto.

 _Naruto,_ Ino called out with her mind. _It's me, Ino._

The jinchuriki gave a visible jolt of surprise as the feminine voice invaded his mind. "Ah!" he exclaimed in shock, drawing all eyes onto him.

"Naruto?" Jiraiya inquired.

"Just a bug that flew into my hair," Naruto said quickly, laughing sheepishly. In his mind to Ino, however, he growled. _Ino? You gave me a fright!_

 _Sorry, sorry! Then I should tell you that I've also included Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke too._

"Let's get back on track," Jiraiya shook his head. "What about the Brawn Tribe? Who are you voting for tonight?"

"Our choice is pretty similar to the other tribe," Hanabi answered smoothly. "The person we're targeting can be rather hard to get along with, and is also a big threat in this game."

 _Oi, Naruto-baka,_ Sasuke said over the mind-link. _We're voting Kisame out. Vote with us - he's dangerous to keep around._

That statement made Naruto pause, and he snuck a quick glance towards his right at Kakashi, who gave a discreet nod in confirmation. Truth be told, Kisame wasn't all bad. He was nice to have around camp - he fished up feasts for the tribe and happily made crude jokes with Anko and Naruto. Not to mention that the shark man was a beast in challenges. Voting out Kisame would definitely cripple their tribe.

"And what about idols?" Jiraiya questioned. "We're a week in. Has there been any talk about idols and who has potentially found them? Naruto?"

 _Naruto,_ Kakashi added, _Don't forget that Kisame has also spent years hunting you down. He's only pretending to play nice for now because he has no other choice. We came to you because you're the only one we can trust with this information. I know you'll make the right choice and come with us - your real team._

Naruto forced a carefree grin onto his face. "Haven't found any idols," he lied through his teeth even as he felt the weight of the necklace in his pants pocket. "We didn't think they were around because none of us could find one after searching for a whole week."

"Beauty Tribe?" Jiraiya prompted.

 _Naruto?_ asked Ino.

"Never said we had one, never said we didn't," Kakashi supplied unhelpfully.

 _Do we have your word, Naruto?_ Sasuke pressed.

 _If you want Kisame, then Kisame it is,_ Naruto told them. _Ino, please release the jutsu. It's getting hard for me to keep up and I don't wanna blow our cover._

With that, Naruto immediately felt the others' presence leave his head. Ino was about to severe the connection between herself and her two tribe mates when Sasuke stopped her.

 _Ino,_ he ordered. _Tell the tribe we're switching the vote to Temari. Naruto isn't going to vote with us and it's too dangerous that he now knows our target._

"Well, this has been an utterly boring tribal council," Jiraiya groaned. "Why so cagey, people? No one is telling me anything good tonight! The Brain Tribe has been way more fun!"

 _What?_ Ino replied in disbelief. She discreetly spied Naruto sneaking a glance at the shark man beside him. _He told us Kisame!_

"Sorry," Anko shrugged. "Just don't want the other tribe to find out too much, y'know? It's part of the job, being a ninja and stuff."

 _Naruto may have told us Kisame, but he didn't give us his word._ This time it was Kakashi speaking. _Sasuke is right - we need to tell everyone to change the vote to Temari. There's no more time. Do it now!_

"Fine," Jiraiya sniffed. "Let's get to the vote."

...

Upon returning with the voting urn securely under his arm, Jiraiya announced, "I have the votes. If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and wishes to play it, now would be the time to do so."

At this, all six of the Beauty Tribe members turned their gaze towards the Brawn Tribe. Now was the moment of truth.

"Ero-sennin."

Standing up from his seat, Naruto determinedly made his way to the podium Jiraiya was situated at. He took special care to avoid Ino's worried expression and Sasuke's narrowed eyes. Reaching into his pocket, Naruto pulled out the idol he had found at earlier today and handed it to Jiraiya.

"I'm playing this idol for Kisame."

Sasuke whipped his head and fixed Ino with a look that screamed 'I-told-you-so'.

"This is in fact a hidden immunity idol," Jiraiya confirmed as Naruto retook his seat. "Any votes cast against Kisame will not count."

Removing the lid of the voting urn, Jiraiya pulled out the first slip of parchment. "First vote: Ino."

Now it was Ino who whipped her head to stare at Naruto. Her expression was a mixture of disbelief and anger.

"Next vote: Ino. That's two for Ino."

Reaching into the urn again, Jiraiya pulled out the next vote and read it out. "Ino."

It turned out that the entire Brawn Tribe had targeted Ino, as evidenced by the sixth vote that Jiraiya read out with her name written down on it. By now, the blond Yamanaka was mentally swearing vengeance on Naruto for his deceit.

"Seventh vote: Temari."

The Suna kunoichi's eyes widened in shock. She was surprised that her name would come up this soon, considering that there were bigger threats to deal with than herself.

Jiraiya unfolded the next vote. "Temari. That's six for Ino, and two for Temari."

When the toad sage read the third vote cast against Temari, the kunoichi in question sent a glare towards Naruto.

"Next vote: Temari. That makes four for Temari."

Wilting slightly under her glare, Naruto whimpered softly, "They told me they were voting for Kisame! I swear!"

Eventually, the vote was tied for Ino and Temari, with each female having their name written down six times.

"We will now have to re-vote," Jiraiya announced. "Ino and Temari will not vote, and the rest of you can only vote for either Ino or Temari."

...

As Jiraiya went to collect the voting urn for the second time that night, Naruto glanced at Kakashi who was right beside him. The blonde felt sad and betrayed, but also conflicted because he knew he was also essentially betraying them in return. What he wanted to know was, were they initially serious about voting Kisame, or were they just playing him from the start to try and misdirect him, knowing that he would be gullible and trust what they told him?

There was no time to ask, however, as Jiraiya had already returned with the votes. And when all ten votes were read, they were still split evenly between Ino and Temari.

"We are dead-locked," Jiraiya announced. "In an event of a dead-lock, you will have an open discussion and unanimously agree to vote out either Ino or Temari. If you can't unanimously come to a decision, Ino and Temari become safe - as well as Kisame because of the idol - and the rest of you will draw rocks. Whoever draws the black rock will go home. You may now start your discussion."

"None of us are budging," Deidara declared immediately, crossing his arms.

"Neither are we," Anko shot back, equally stubborn.

"You guys should vote Temari out because she becomes a bigger threat the longer you let her stay in this game," Deidara argued. "She's the only contestant here from Suna, and if she gets to the end she'll win because she survived those odds!"

"That's bullshit!" Naruto shouted. "Ino should go home instead because she's a big threat! She's all sneaky and untrustworthy - telling me to flip to their side and vote out Kisame, then not even voting for Kisame at all!"

"Wait a minute," Jiraiya couldn't help but jump in. "When did any of that happen? No one told me anything useful at all this whole tribal!"

"Look underneath the underneath," Sasuke retorted quickly before Naruto spilled the beans about Ino's family jutsu.

Kakashi gave his ex-student a proud look. Naruto looked away, hurt.

"Anyway," Gai said, his voice unusually calm, "We are not changing our minds. The Brawn Tribe is family."

"Are you willing to go to rocks for Temari?" Haku questioned.

"Yes," Gai answered without hesitation. "Are you?"

Haku nodded. It was a slim chance that he would pick the black rock after all. And no one wanted to be the one who suggested they flip on their tribe mate right in front of that particular tribe mate in question. Their hands were tied.

"Alright," Jiraiya intervened. "Looks like we really are deadlocked. I will come to you with a bag of rocks. When I do, pick out a rock but don't reveal it until I give the word. Only Ino, Temari and Kisame will not be drawing a rock."

As Jiraiya made his way across the bench with the bag, the ninja dipped their hands and each chose a rock. Some were hesitant, some closed their eyes as they chose, and others uttered silent prayers to the Survivor Kami. When nine rocks had been chosen, Jiraiya made his way back to his podium.

"Hold out your fists in front of you, and on my count of three reveal what you picked," Jiraiya instructed. "One, two... three."

Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief as he stared at the white rock in his hand. Looking to his right, he saw that Kakashi also had a white rock in hand. So did Sasuke. In fact, all of the Beauty Tribe members were holding a white rock. His heart dropped.

"Fuck."

Snapping his gaze forward at the sound, Naruto watched as Anko held the black rock in her shaking hand.

Numbly, he watched as Kisame immediately stepped forward to embrace Anko in a tight hug, whispering apologies and condolences to her. Naruto stood up and joined in the hug, as the rest of the Brawn Tribe also joined in to engulfed Anko in a big group hug.

Eventually, they had to let go and return to their seats, watching sadly as Anko made her way to Jiraiya with her torch.

"Anko," Jiraiya said solemnly. "The Survivor Kami has spoken."

As her torched was snuffed out, Anko turned around to address her tribe. Shaking off her sadness, the spunky kunoichi grinned up at them and executed a lazy salute.

"Kick ass, you five."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Whew! That turned out much longer than I anticipated! Heh. Thank you all so much for reading - every view, follow, favorite and review really makes my day! If you guys have any questions, suggestions, predictions etc, chuck it in the reviews. Til next time!


	4. She's Like A Fart

**Previously on Survivor: Ninja Edition...**

18 ninja, all experts in their fields, were divided into three tribes of six - The Brain Tribe, The Brawn Tribe, and The Beauty Tribe. The Brain Tribe was off to a rough start, losing the first two immunity challenges. In back-to-back blindsides, Sasori and Karin were the game's first casualties. On the up side, Itachi found a hidden immunity idol, and fashioned a fake for Konan to find. In the latest episode, the Brawn and Beauty Tribes were sent to a combined tribal council, where they had to vote out one person. With six against six, Naruto and Hanabi (who also holds the Legacy Advantage) found a hidden immunity idol for the Brawn. However, it didn't make a difference as Ino, Sasuke and Kakashi tried to get Naruto to flip to the Beauty Tribe, and upon sensing his reluctance, changed their vote. Playing the idol for Kisame to no effect, the votes ended up being a tie between Ino and Temari, and led to a rock draw where Anko drew the black rock and was the latest player to be sent home. 15 remain; who will be voted out tonight?

* * *

 **Survivor: Ninja Edition - Ep 4**

She's Like A Fart

 _Night_ _8 - Brawn Tribe_

An oppressive silence stretched between the five ninja throughout their walk back to camp. They had just returned from tribal council, where they had lost Anko to a rock. A friggin' _rock._

They had just sat themselves down around the fire pit. Anko's absence was already felt - she was usually the one who tended to the fire the most. During their time at tribal, the flames had died down, leaving several large chunks of glowing ember.

"That was a fucking disappointment," Kisame broke the silence.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed forlornly. Clenching his fists, he addressed his tribe. "I'm sorry everyone. I played the idol wrong and let us down."

Gai placed a comforting hand on the young Uzumaki's shoulder. "What happened, Naruto? It's okay, you can tell us."

Taking a deep breath, Naruto recounted the mind link that Ino had set up, allowing him to converse discreetly with Sasuke and Kakashi. His tribe listened intently as the blonde spoke, no one summoning the energy to rekindle the dying fire.

"And it hurts because I don't know if Kaka-sensei and Sasuke-teme were really trying to work with me, or if they were just out to deceive me from the get-go," Naruto finally confessed.

"Naruto," Temari said gently as she took his hand. "You did well, and what happened tonight was not your fault. Whatever it is, we are your family, and we will stand by you."

Looking up at the older blonde with puppy dog eyes, Naruto burst out, "Temari! Thank you."

Watching Naruto bawl tears of happiness into Temari's shirt, Gai himself started to tear up. Joining in their hug, he couldn't stop himself from proclaiming, "Ah, what lovely flames of youth! They warm my heart up!"

Sensing a pattern emerging as Gai proceeded to erupt into loud sobs, Kisame and Hanabi shared an amused glance. Kisame allowed his chuckling to turn into full belly laughs, while Hanabi kept a smile firmly in place as she stood up and proceeded to rekindle the fire.

* * *

 _Day 9 - Reward Challenge_

"Good morning everybody!" Jiraiya greeted as the contestants filed onto the beach. "Brain Tribe, getting your first look at the new Brawn Tribe - Anko sent home last night in a showdown between the Brawn and Beauty Tribes."

The four ninja standing on the blue Brain Tribe mat exchanged glances with each other, but said nothing regarding the news.

"Alright, is everyone ready to get to today's reward challenge?" Jiraiya asked jovially.

There were a few murmured responses, some more enthusiastic than others.

"Great! We'll get to it, but in just another minute," Jiraiya held his hands high up above his head.

"Everybody, drop. Your. Buffs!"

This time, the announcement was met with several shocked looks and loud exclamations. As the ninja removed their current tribe buffs and dropped them onto the sand, Jiraiya passed around a tray that was piled high with fifteen new buffs concealed in parchment.

"That's right! We are switching things up," Jiraiya grinned deviously as he discarded the empty tray. "It's time to reveal your new tribes. Head on over to the mat that corresponds to your new buff color."

It took about a minute for the contestants to unwrap their new buffs and shuffle over to their corresponding mats. Some were enthusiastic about their new tribe mates, while others appeared rather nervous and displeased, before quickly concealing their emotions and putting on an enthusiastic front. Finally, there were seven ninja standing on each of the yellow and red mats, while a single figure stood alone on the blue mat.

"Get a look at your new tribes," Jiraiya stated. "Pulling out a red buff we have Deidara, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Konan and Kakashi. Your new home will be on the former Brawn Tribe's beach, and your new tribe name is Taiyou."

Noticing the disparity in numbers, the toad sage questioned, "Naruto. You are the only Brawn member surrounded by three Brains and three Beauties. How does that make you feel?"

"Ehehehe," Naruto laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "It's a bit scary, but I'm super excited to get along with my new tribe! I'll show 'em around camp and we're gonna kick ass, dattebayo!"

Nodding his approval, Jiraiya moved on to the group of seven standing on the yellow mat. "Drawing a yellow buff and living on the former Beauty Tribe beach, we have Gai, Kurenai, Hanabi, Kisame, Itachi, Temari and Sasuke. Your new tribe is called Tsuki."

Doing another quick count, Jiraiya stated, "This tribe has four former Brawn members, two Beauties, and one Brain. Itachi, how does it feel to be by yourself now?"

"It might seem as though I am on the wrong side of the numbers," the Uchiha prodigy agreed. "However, this is a good group of people and I look forward to reconnecting with old friends and making new connections."

"Well said!" Jiraiya praised. "Now last, and sadly the least in this case, we have Haku on the blue mat. You will spend the next two nights by yourself at Exile Island. You will return during the next tribal council, where you will join the tribe that votes off the next person. In other words, you're safe from the vote, but you'll lose valuable socializing time. How does that make you feel?"

"Conflicted," the ice user answered honestly. "I'm definitely happy to be safe for the next vote, but I'm also scared about starting on a new tribe a few days late. Anything could happen, but I'm going to do my best."

"Atta boy!" Jiraiya smiled, tossing a scroll towards Haku. "Here's your map to Exile. You may start to make your way there now. See you in a couple of days!"

Unfurling the map and acknowledging the well wishes from the other players, Haku made his exit and began his long trek to Exile. Once he was out of earshot, Jiraiya brought everyone's attention back to the challenge by pointing at two tall wooden posts that were firmly lodged into the sand. The posts were situated about thirty meters away from the mats that the ninja were currently standing on.

"Let's put your new tribes to the test now, shall we?" Jiraiya clapped his hands excitedly. "For today's reward challenge, one member of each tribe will start by attaching themselves to a post by hugging it. Two members of the opposing tribe will attempt to remove them and drag them back towards these mats. The two members who succeed in dragging their opponent back here first will score a point for their tribe. The first tribe to score three points wins reward."

Noting that everyone was listening attentively, Jiraiya continued his explanation. "For this challenge, you may do whatever it takes to win. However, absolutely _no_ lethal force, and no sabotaging the other team. This means that you can only use your techniques within your groups of three. Tsunade and Orochimaru are here to help me proctor this challenge, but they will only step in if it's a life or death situation. Got it?"

He indicated towards the tree line, where the other two Sannin were reclining in the shade. Tsunade had her field medical kit set up, while Orochimaru watched the group and licked his lips. Sasuke let out an involuntary shudder.

Once Jiraiya received several nods and muttered 'yes's from the contestants, he announced, "the winning tribe gets to bring back a D.I.Y. coffee and tea set, complete with sugar, milk and cream, as well as storage scrolls that are specifically designed by yours truly to maintain freshness. The losing tribe will walk away with nothing."

...

"Alright!" Jiraiya shouted, "For the first round we have Naruto hanging on the post for Taiyou. Taking him on are Itachi and Kisame. For Tsuki, it is Gai hanging on with Deidara and Kakashi going against him."

Naruto and Gai had both chosen to climb to the very top of their respective posts. Their arms and legs were wrapped tightly around the wood, their grip enhanced slightly with chakra.

"Survivors ready?" Jiraiya called. "And... GO!"

The pursuers immediately flung themselves towards their targets. Deidara was quick to form a clay bird, hopping aboard and taking to the air, leaving Kakashi to handle the ground. They wasted no time closing in on Gai, who was forced to evict his spot on the post due to Deidara's aerial clay bombs. Kakashi met him on the sand, engaging him in a bout of taijutsu.

"My eternal rival!" Gai boomed. "I have been eagerly awaiting this match with you!"

Simultaneously, Itachi and Kisame sped towards Naruto, who was sticking his tongue out at them and making farting sounds with it. Itachi had his sharingan activated, while Kisame clutched Samehada in his hand.

"Isn't this nostalgic," the shark man grinned deviously.

"Maybe," the Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied innocently, making it a point to avoid Itachi's eyes. "But you guys failed to capture me back then, so I'm pretty sure you'll fail again this time."

That sentence goaded Kisame to leap high into the air and swipe at Naruto with Samehada, forcing the blonde to dodge by propelling himself above the post with a jump. He landed with a crouch right on top of the post, but had to immediately run down to the sand courtesy of a pursuing Kisame.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

Dozens and dozens of Naruto copies poofed into existence and swarmed the former Akatsuki partners. While this tactic would not serve Naruto well in an actual battle scenario against the two, it did well to buy him time for this particular challenge.

As Naruto's clone army was getting rapidly demolished - and simultaneously being rapidly replenished by the blonde menace himself - Gai was slowly getting pushed back towards the mats. Every time he made it past Kakashi and tried to make for the post, Deidara's clay bombs swooped in and pushed him even further away. It was a war of attrition, and both Naruto and Gai had stamina in spades.

It was a close call in the end, but Kakashi's and Deidara's strategy eventually paid off, as Gai was the first to cross the mats.

"One point to Taiyou!" Jiraiya announced as Naruto dismissed his remaining clones and Gai shook his eternal rival's hand in respect.

"Now for Round Two, which is an all-female round," the toad sage continued, rubbing his hands together with a lecherous giggle. "Hanging onto the post for Taiyou is Sakura, with Temari and Kurenai taking her down. For Tsuki it is Hanabi on the post, while Ino and Konan team up on her."

On Jiraiya's signal, Kurenai started forming hand seals while Temari rushed forward towards Sakura, sending a gust of wind with her fan. Sakura dodged the blast by leaping down to the sand, and broke out of the genjutsu that Kurenai had just cast. Putting all of her training from Tsunade to good use - medics had to be experts at evasion - Sakura deftly avoided all the attacks that were sent her way.

On the other side, Konan had immediately sent a hoard of origami paper towards Hanabi, who dropped to the sand to avoid it. Ino met the young Hyuuga immediately, engaging her in a brief round of taijutsu. The match was short lived as Hanabi's skill in the Gentle Fist sent Ino flying back, but it was enough for Konan to sneak up on the Hyuuga and capture her in a cocoon of paper. From there, it was only a matter of seconds before Hanabi was thrown back onto the mats.

"Taiyou scores their second point! They are now just one point away from winning coffee and tea!"

The kunoichi retook their spots on their tribe mats, where Sakura placed her medical chakra-filled hands on Ino to unblock her chakra points. She herself had a few cuts from Temari's wind techniques, but decided to tend to them after the challenge in case she needed her chakra for more important things. Unless it was a life threatening situation, they were told that Tsunade would only tend to their major injuries after the challenge was over.

"Time for the Third Round!" Jiraiya announced. "Kakashi is holding the post for Taiyou, taking on Sasuke and Kisame. Tsuki has chosen Itachi to cling on, while Shikamaru and Deidara do their best to prevent that. Survivors ready? GO!"

Once again, Deidara took to the sky in his clay bird. Their strategy was for Deidara to bomb Itachi into Shikamaru's shadow, where they would then drag the Uchiha back to the mats.

"You're going down, Uchiha!" Deidara exclaimed confidently.

Itachi stared at Deidara emotionlessly, and flipped him off.

Meanwhile, Kakashi had evicted the post as Kisame had sent a tidal wave of water crashing over it with just a few simple hand seals. Sasuke was now engaging Kakashi in taijutsu, while the shark man attempted to ensnare the copy nin in a water prison. Sasuke's foot had just grazed Kakashi's cheek when an explosion rocked the sand they were standing on, forcing them apart.

"STOP!" Yelled Jiraiya, halting the match and drawing all attention to himself. Furious, he levelled a finger at a dazed-looking Deidara.

"What was that for?" he scolded the bomber. "You detonated a clay bomb in the other fight. You're disqualified for this round, thus the point automatically goes to Tsuki."

Deidara merely furrowed his brows in confusion, looking to Shikamaru for answers as they made their way back to the mats. The Nara genius, however, was frowning at an unusually smug-looking Itachi who returned his gaze, smirked, and deactivated his sharingan. Shikamaru shuddered. Scary Uchiha.

"Itachi's middle finger genjutsu-ed you good," Ino whispered to Deidara, who widened his eyes in realization before sending the Uchiha a death glare.

"So the score stands at Taiyou with two points, and Tsuki with one," Jiraiya stated. "For the next round we have Konan holding the post for Taiyou, and Gai and Temari chasing her. Tsuki has Sasuke clinging to the post, with Naruto and Sakura going after him."

Gai and Temari were immediately on the offense, sending attack after attack at Konan, who gracefully moved out of range of Gai's strikes and sent her origami paper to meet Temari's wind head on. Though progress was slow, the sole female Akatsuki member was gradually being pushed towards the mats.

On the other side, Sasuke faced off against his Konoha teammates.

"This is familiar, isn't it?" Sasuke smirked.

"Kind of," Sakura admitted coyly. "But you did come back to us on your own in the end."

Raising a brow in defiance, Sasuke began to rapidly form hand seals. Sakura tensed, summoning chakra to her fists and prepared to strike the sand. However, it was Naruto who made the first move by forming a single hand seal.

"Sexy Jutsu: Sakura-Chan Version!"

The spot where Naruto previously stood was now occupied by a second Haruno Sakura. However, this Sakura was also _very_ naked, with residual smoke from the transformation barely covering her areas of interest.

Sasuke froze, gaze fixated on the naked Sakura who was now strutting towards him. The smoke was starting to thin.

"Sasuke-kun," naked Sakura purred, batting her pink eyelashes at him and pouting her lips. The smoke had almost completely dissipated.

Sasuke felt a drop of blood drip from his nose as naked Sakura leaned forward and -

BAM! A heavy impact, followed by the sensation of flying, then hitting the sand and rolling to a stop.

Everyone gave a collective nervous gulp as they stared at Sakura - the real Sakura - as she cracked her knuckles threateningly. Even Konan, Gai and Temari had completely stopped their match to stare at the angry pink haired girl. Sakura had just punched Sasuke so hard that he flew way past the mats. Turning her furious gaze to Naruto, who thankfully had the sense to change back into himself, Sakura readied another punch.

"U-um, Sakura-chan?" the blonde jinchuuriki stuttered timidly. "At least we won, right? Yay, tea? Or c-coffee?"

WHAM! Naruto landed on his arse beside his raven haired teammate, yelping in pain.

"And with that, Taiyou wins reward!" Jiraiya hurriedly announced, stuffing tissue up his nose as he pulled out his infamous research notes. "Everyone go to Tsunade to get your scrapes and bruises healed, and then head on back to camp!"

* * *

 _Day 9 - Taiyou (Previously the Brawn Tribe's beach)_

"YAHOOOOO!"

There were currently about three dozen hyper Naruto clones bouncing off trees around camp and the surrounding jungle.

"And to think he only had half a cup of coffee," Sakura shook her head in disbelief.

Kakashi shrugged nonchalantly. "He'll crash soon. I hope."

After the reward challenge, the Taiyou tribe had returned to camp, where Naruto introduced everyone to the beach and surrounding areas. They then sat down for a coffee, which had been nice and relaxed until the hyperactive blonde had gotten a huge caffeine rush. He had _kage bunshin-ed_ up several copies of himself (because he couldn't expel energy quickly enough with just one of him), and proceeded to run around the entire place.

"Frankly, I don't mind," Sakura told him. "With all the ruckus he's causing, he gave us the chance to slip away into the jungle and catch up with each other."

Kakashi gave her his familiar one-eyed smile. It definitely felt good to rendezvous with her former sensei and not have to feel paranoid about their respective alliances getting suspicious. However, Sakura knew she still had to tread carefully. Her own Brain alliance with Shikamaru and Konan was tight; Konan had the idol after all, and with everything they had been through, Sakura knew that she could trust the pair. What she wanted to sniff out was the Beauty Tribe's dynamics.

"How have things been at your previous camp, sensei?"

"It is only proper to offer information in exchange for information, Sakura-chan."

The medic nin huffed. Same old sensei. "Fair enough," she conceded. She trusted Kakashi with her life, so she could trust him here. "Shikamaru, Konan and I are in a tight alliance. Us four remaining Brain Tribe members are all close, and we have no issues with each other."

"Interesting," Kakashi murmured. "Sasuke and Haku, and Kurenai to a certain extent, were my closest allies on the Beauty Tribe. Deidara and Ino are something akin to a power couple."

"Ino and... Deidara? Who would've guessed." Sakura's eyebrows shot up in surprise, before she looked Kakashi in the eye. "So I take it you're not very close to Ino and Deidara?"

"TABPP."

"What?"

"The Annoying Blonde Ponytail Pair," Kakashi clarified. "Sasuke came up with that name."

"Right," Sakura shook her head, amused. "But that's a good thing, isn't it? You and Naruto can come join the Brain alliance and if we need to, we can always vote off TABPP first!"

Kakashi scratched his head sheepishly. "Uh, about that-"

He was interrupted as Naruto - real or clone she wasn't sure - tumbled into the small clearing they were standing in. Jumping up onto his feet, the blonde gave Sakura a wide grin.

"Sakura-chan!" He cried, engulfing her smaller frame in a bear hug. "I'm so happy to be on the same tribe as you, dattebayo!"

The pinkette laughed happily, returning the hug. When they let go of each other after a few more seconds, Naruto caught sight of Kakashi and took two steps back.

"Um, Naruto?" Sakura questioned, noticing the way her best friend's eyes narrowed as he regarded Kakashi. "Is something wrong?"

"Our previous tribes had a showdown at the last tribal council," Kakashi sighed. "We'll explain."

...

"Oi, Shika!" Ino called out to her teammate.

She was by the rocks in the shallow seawater, the tide barely reaching her waist.

"Troublesome," she heard him mutter as he made his way over to her in the water.

"Is that any way to greet your favorite female teammate?" Ino asked sweetly.

"You're my only female teammate," the Nara shot back, but he pulled her into a warm hug all the same.

Ino grinned up at her friend. She had wanted to talk to Shikamaru immediately when the tribe swap happened. With three Beauties, three Brains and one Naruto, one might assume that Naruto would become the tie-breaker vote. Unfortunately, Ino was pretty certain that Naruto would be against her considering how the previous tribal council went. Especially since she was the one who used her family jutsu to establish the telepathic link.

"Since you admitted it, how about aligning with me and Deidara?" Ino said casually.

"Rather direct, aren't we?" Shikamaru deadpanned.

"Oh come on! We're way past formalities!" Ino tugged at his arm. "Anyway, your beautiful, smart, irresistible teammate should always come first. Are you forgetting that we share this tribe with Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi? Team 7 is definitely gonna try to play the comrade card and you know it."

Shikamaru nodded. Of course he already knew that, and he would be a fool to close the door that Ino had just opened to him without at least considering it seriously. After all, a united Team 7 in the merge would be extremely tricky to deal with, and whoever that aligned with them would always be at the bottom of the pecking order because _Team 7_. However, he wasn't sure that he wanted to break up the Brain alliance just yet, and keeping Team 7 in the game would ensure that there were bigger targets than him to worry about.

"Let's say I do align with you and Deidara," he ventured. "That's only three. We need one more to be in the majority."

"What about Konan?"

"It might work. Konan and I have a good relationship," Shikamaru said. "But Konan and Sakura also have a tight alliance. It's a gamble."

"Maybe we'll have a chance if Deidara talks to her."

...

Naruto - the OG Naruto - hopped down onto the jungle floor with an inaudible thud. With a smile, he admired the hidden immunity idol clutched in his hands. It was the same idol that he had played the night before; a plain rope necklace with a large, red Uzumaki spiral in the centre.

Pocketing the idol and the parchment that came with it, Naruto commenced his journey back to camp. Contrary to popular belief, he was not all brawn and no brain. Okay, so maybe he was mostly brawn and not a lot of brain, but he did have brains when it counted, and he would go as far to say that faking a caffeine rush to create a swarm of clones to search for the idol in plain sight was a stroke of genius.

A sudden surge of memories flooded his senses, causing his steps to falter. Apparently, a clone of his had barged in on a conversation between Sakura and Kakashi, and they had relayed the drama of the previous tribal to the pink haired girl. Sorting through the images and sounds in his head, a sigh of relief escaped his lips. So Kakashi and Sasuke were _not_ out to deceive him; they had genuinely wanted to work with him.

Sprinting towards the location that his team was located at, Naruto burst into the clearing and tackled Kakashi and Sakura to the floor in an affectionate dog pile.

"I think this is the real Naruto this time," Sakura's voice was muffled by Kakashi's knee in her face.

"Mhmm," Naruto confirmed, as he buried his face in his teammate's pink hair. "Can the three of us please be the final three?"

"Of course, you baka," Sakura said affectionately as Kakashi ruffled Naruto's unruly locks. "We wouldn't have it any other way."

Naruto beamed with happiness. He was in a good place, he told himself. He just found a new idol that no one knew about, and more importantly, he had his team back. He wasn't alone on this tribe anymore.

* * *

 _Day 10 - Tsuki (Previously the Beauty Tribe's beach)_

Itachi added another log to the fire as he sat on the beach to watch the sunrise. Dawn was just beginning to break, and the only sounds around camp were the waves crashing on the shore and the twittering of birds.

He was the first person up this morning, or the last one to turn in for the night, depending on how you wanted to look at it. In fact, he hadn't slept a wink for the entire night, instead using the time to set up his crow summons in various parts of the jungle, as well as to search for the idol on this beach. He had immediately gone and dug around the water well, anticipating that the idol would be in a similar location to the one he had found in the Brain camp.

He had found nothing. Just to be certain, he had also gone deep into the jungle, scouring over every nook and cranny that he and his summons could reach. And yet, he still turned up empty handed, which led him to a single conclusion.

Someone in the former Beauty Tribe had found the hidden immunity idol.

Sensing a flickering chakra presence on his periphery, Itachi whipped his head around to glance at the shelter, and was greeted by the sight of his foolish little brother stirring from sleep. His gaze softening, the older Uchiha beckoned the younger to join him by the fire.

Now fully alert, Sasuke closed the distance swiftly and silently, taking a seat beside his brother. Itachi passed him a water canteen, and Sasuke accepted it with a grateful nod, taking a few gulps from the bottle.

They then sat in a comfortable silence for the next few minutes, watching the sun emerge from the horizon. When the new tribe had arrived at camp after yesterday's challenge, Itachi had managed to steal a few moments to slip away and speak with Sasuke privately. Initially anxious that Sasuke would still despise him, his worry was proven to be unfounded when his little brother all but lunged at him with a hug, told him he understood, and actually _sobbed_ into his shirt. Their reconciliation had been a tender moment, one that Itachi would treasure for the rest of his life.

"Sasuke," Itachi whispered. It was so soft that Sasuke would've missed it, had he not been so attuned to his brother's presence.

"Aniki?" Sasuke's reply was just as inaudible. They couldn't risk being overheard.

"I have reason to believe that someone in your old tribe has found the idol on this beach," Itachi told him. "Do you have it?"

The slight widening of Sasuke's eyes told him all he needed to know.

"You weren't aware?" he asked the younger Uchiha in a slightly disapproving tone. Sasuke recognized he was being chided and proceeded to brood.

"I spent a lot of time trying to find it, but couldn't," Sasuke revealed. "At the last tribal, the six of us agreed that since no one had found it yet, we would let it stay hidden and focus on our strategy instead."

"I see," Itachi murmured. "Looks like someone on your former tribe is a lot more capable than you gave them credit for. You couldn't find the idol because someone else has most likely gotten to it first."

Sasuke scoffed quietly. He believed his brother's words; he was the best shinobi he knew of, after all. "What about your tribe?"

"I found the idol," Itachi confided, relaying his fake idol plot to Sasuke, who was completely unsurprised that _Itachi_ of all people swiped an idol by genjutsu-ing his tribe mate, and subsequently used the same person as a shield for himself.

"I haven't told anyone else about this, otouto," Itachi said sincerely. "My only true loyalty in this game is to you, and I am making it my mission to get to Day 39 with you."

"Me too," Sasuke confirmed with a nod. "Now we just need to crack these four Brawn members in order to survive the next few votes until the merge."

Itachi simply smiled in response, and poked Sasuke in the forehead.

...

Later that day, Itachi found himself in the middle of the ocean with Kisame. He had deliberately volunteered himself to go fishing for the tribe, fully aware that the shark man would offer to come along and lend his expertise. It was almost expected that he would. Thankfully, while Itachi planned to work Kisame over to his side, Sasuke was back at camp to hold the fort.

"I will never get used to that." Itachi watched in morbid fascination as Kisame devoured a wriggling fish that he had freshly swiped from the water.

"You've said that every time I've done this for what, over half a decade?" Kisame snorted. "You'd think you'd be used to it by now, being my partner and all."

"Partners..." Itachi narrowed his eyes, his bottom lip jutting out slightly. "Is that so. Then why is that wind user from Suna following you around everywhere you go?"

This was indeed the first chance that he had gotten to steal Kisame away for a one-on-one conversation. Kisame was constantly surrounded by his previous Brawn members, and the blonde kunoichi stuck by him particularly religiously. Laughing heartily at Itachi's previous statement, the shark man swallowed another live fish, eyes dancing with mirth.

"Could my ears be deceiving me? Is the great Uchiha Itachi-sama jealous?" Kisame almost choked on the fish from laughing at his own joke.

"Stop eating all the fish," was all Itachi said. "They're supposed to be brought back for the tribe."

"Oh come on," Kisame was still grinning. "I needed her in that tribe; those Konoha assholes outnumbered us four to two."

Itachi just glared. _He_ was technically a loyal Konoha shinobi, too.

"Fine, fine," the blue-skinned Akatsuki member said, raising a large hand in placation, though he still had that annoying grin on his face. "You, my dear Itachi- _kun_ , are my true partner. I'd much rather play properly with you than stick with those pansies and pretend to be nice. That girl is nothing to me - she's like a fart."

"A fart?"

"Yeah, she's a fart 'cuz she's a wind user and she keeps following me around from behind," Kisame explained.

"Hn." Itachi was still glaring, though it was more half-hearted now.

"Don't worry, my main man," Kisame assured him, adding another fish into their basket. "We'll just use her as a number to get us as far as we want. She's pretty loyal to me since she's got no one else in this game, so she'll go along with whatever. Then when we feel like it, we slit her throat. Easy."

With that, Itachi finally smiled as he grasped his long-time partner's outstretched hand and shook.

It was so easy to manipulate Kisame.

* * *

 _Day 10 - Exile Island_

It was hot. Frickin' hot.

Haku glared up at the blazing sun half-heartedly, too de-energized to do anything else. It was likely around noon, judging from the position of the sun in the sky.

Tipping his water canteen for a sip, Haku bit back a curse as he realized he was out of water. He'd have to boil some more.

The ice user's experience in exile was pretty miserable. He'd manage to construct a small, cramped shelter for himself and start a fire, but he hadn't eaten since before the tribe swap. The surrounding waters in this area were filled with extremely strong currents, making it impossible to fish. He had felt his chakra drain away rapidly from just standing on the turbulent water's surface.

On the plus side, it was nice to get away from all the scheming and mind games for a bit. More importantly, however, he had also received a welcome gift on arrival. Pulling out the small piece of parchment from his pocket, Haku re-read its contents.

 _Congratulations! You have won a Steal-A-Vote Advantage!_

 _This advantage must be used at your next tribal council. Before the votes are cast, alert Jiraiya that you are playing your advantage, and state whose vote you are stealing for yourself. You will vote twice, and the person you choose will not vote at all. This advantage is non-transferrable._

A smile came to Haku's face. With this, he could possibly keep himself safe on whichever tribe he ended up joining, and if he really played it right, he could also take out the target of his choice.

Hopefully, toughing it out on exile would be worth it.

* * *

 _Day 11 - Immunity Challenge_

"Welcome to your first immunity challenge in your new tribes!" Jiraiya announced grandly, spreading his arms out wide.

They were situated in the middle of the ocean, where several floating bamboo platforms and walkways were arranged into a large grid. Scattered all around the grid were a considerable number of woven baskets, and at opposite corners of the structure were two boats. The members of Taiyou were in a red boat, while the Tsuki Tribe was in a yellow one. Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru were standing on a separate floating platform.

"For this challenge, you will all navigate the bamboo grid while picking up baskets and delivering them to your tribe boat," Jiraiya explained. "If you fall into the water at any time, you have to drop your basket, swim back to your tribe boat, and start again from there. The tribe with more baskets in their boat at the end of fifteen minutes will win immunity."

Sensing that there was more to the challenge, the ninja waited expectantly for Jiraiya to continue.

"You can use any means necessary to win," the Toad Sannin grinned. "Anything from stealing, using jutsu, engaging in combat, pushing the other tribe into the water - whatever you can come up with. There is only one rule: no lethal force. I'll give you a minute to strategize, and we'll get started."

...

"Alright!" Jiraiya called out to the competing ninja. "You have fifteen minutes to collect more baskets than the other tribe. Survivors ready? GO!"

Both tribes sprang into action immediately. On Taiyou's side, Kakashi and Deidara took the lead, while Konan and Sakura covered the middle, leaving Ino and Shikamaru to hang closer to their boat. Naruto, however, was still standing on his tribe boat, and had just completed a series of handseals.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he bit his thumb to draw blood, and slapped his palm on the deck.

Several toads appeared in front of him in a plume of smoke. Explaining the situation to his summons quickly, Naruto then instructed them to spread themselves out along the grid and lend their assistance when needed. Satisfied that the toads understood, Naruto hurried onto the course to get in on the action.

 _Someone has to stop Gai! He's too fast!_ Shikamaru's voice sounded in Naruto's head. _Kakashi – go deal with him. Use your sharingan if you have to._

 _On it!_ This time it was Kakashi's voice. A big part of their team's strategy for this challenge was for Shikamaru to deliver instructions to the tribe through Ino's mind link.

Sure enough, Kakashi darted off to Gai – who was a big green blur as he had taken his weights off – and proceeded to engage him in combat. The taijutsu expert had already single-handedly filled his tribe's boat with three baskets within the first few seconds of the challenge.

"Thanks to Gai, Tsuki has an early lead with three baskets!" Jiraiya announced. "Taiyou has to pick it up – they currently have none!"

 _Naruto!_ Shikamaru said. _Create seven shadow clones and have them partner up with each member of our tribe. Make more if they get dispelled. Everyone else – pass your basket to your Naruto clone, and they'll toss it to either Ino or myself to put into our boat. Naruto – float around the course and give back up when needed!_

Seven Narutos poofed into existence and started making their way around the grid. Ino and Shikamaru were already returning to the boat, and placed Taiyou's first two baskets inside.

While Gai was busy with Kakashi, the other members of Tsuki were holding their own. Their strategy was far more simple; they had four playing offense, and three playing defence. Gai, Sasuke, Temari and Kurenai were tasked with filling up the boat, whereas Kisame, Itachi and Hanabi were to prevent the other tribe from scoring baskets.

Watching as Kakashi was kicked off the bamboo by Gai only to be caught and bounced back into the fray by a toad summon, Kisame scowled and looked to Jiraiya.

"Kakashi is cleared!" Jiraiya decided. "He didn't touch the water. Remember - any means necessary short of lethal force!"

By now, Naruto had created another seven clones and had sent them to deal with the Tsuki members. They were annoyances at most – but they were effective in preventing them from doing their tasks properly. As soon as they were dispelled, there were always more to take their place.

"Someone deal with Naruto!" Hanabi screamed in frustration as she juken-ed her fourth clone in a row.

"Oh yeah?" Temari retorted, equally annoyed by the horde of clones. "How 'bout you find the real one first?"

"Now Taiyou has taken the lead!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "We are five minutes in, and Taiyou leads Tsuki ten to six!"

"Sasuke, Kurenai," Itachi called out. "Genjutsu any clone that you can find."

Unfortunately for Itachi, while no Narutos were near enough to hear his plan, Deidara was well within earshot.

 _Naruto!_ Deidara said telepathically. _Be careful! They're planning to genjutsu your clones. No making eye-contact._

 _Deidara,_ Shikamaru said in response as Naruto voiced his consent. _Send a few of your homing clay bombs after Kurenai to keep her busy and away from Naruto – but aim for non-lethal spots._

By now, Gai had successfully shaken Kakashi off, and had resumed his super speed collection of baskets. Kakashi, who had been thrown about twenty metres away into the water, was swimming back to their tribe boat.

 _Uh, guys?_ It was Ino this time. _I can't see anything! It's really foggy right now. Is it just me?_

 _Huh?_ Sakura responded. _It's all clear where I'm at – oh! It's only where our boat is! Shit! Ino, be careful, I think Kisame is using Kirigakure no jutsu!_

A few moments later, the mist cleared up, leaving a shaken but otherwise unscathed Ino. Naruto, receiving his clone's memories of shielding Ino from Kisame, created another two to send to her. It wouldn't do to lose their tribe's telepathic link, so protecting Ino was of top priority.

"And with a huge move, Kisame has successfully stolen several baskets from the Taiyou boat!" Jiraiya announced. "Tsuki is now in the lead, twelve to nine! You have seven minutes left!"

 _Shit,_ Shikamaru swore. _Konan, you're now on boat defence duty. Naruto, help Sakura cover the middle. Kakashi, hurry back to Gai, NOW!_

As the various members of Taiyou scrambled to obey Shikamaru's orders, a loud shout of protest from Kurenai drew Jiraiya's attention.

"She broke the rules!" Kurenai shouted angrily, pointing one finger at an unremorseful Sakura while her other arm supported an unconscious Hanabi.

"I did not," Sakura rebutted. "I just chopped the back of her neck. That's not using lethal force at all."

"Sakura, you're fine," Jiraiya stated. "Kurenai, I suggest moving your comrade to somewhere safe lest she gets hurts for real by lying there."

Cursing under her breath, Kurenai had just picked Hanabi up bridal-style when an explosion threw both kunoichi into the water.

 _Oops,_ came Deidara's sheepish voice over the Taiyou tribe mind-link. _I forgot that my homing bombs were still targeting Kurenai…_

"Oi! Watch it!" Jiraiya pointed in Deidara's direction. When Kurenai surfaced, still conscious and clutching Hanabi to herself, Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you hurt, Kurenai?"

"My leg," Kurenai gasped. "It's bleeding – no! I'm okay! Keep going, Kisame."

She waved the shark man off as he was about to jump into the water to her aid. Making sure that she could manage herself in the water with an injured leg, Kisame turned his focus back to the challenge. While the distraction took place, Taiyou had taken the opportunity to catch up on their basket retrievals.

"We now have four minutes left on the clock!" Jiraiya shouted. "Both tribes are tied with fifteen baskets each! You all need to move it if you want to win!"

 _Naruto!_ Sakura groaned. _A couple of your clones near the Tsuki boat have been caught in a genjutsu by Itachi! Dispel them now before they put any more baskets into –_

Sakura was cut short as she had to avoid a punch from Sasuke. However, it was enough as Naruto dispelled his rogue clones and replaced them with fresh ones.

"Two minutes left!" Jiraiya called. "Tsuki is now leading by one basket, courtesy of a confused Naruto clone!"

 _Deidara._ Shikamaru sounded calm and dangerous. _Blow up as many of their baskets as possible without damaging their boat. Naruto, send your toads to move Kurenai and Hanabi out of harm's way._

 _Without damaging the boat? What am I, a miracle worker?_ Deidara grunted. _Konan, gimme some back up here._

 _Just try!_ Ino shouted back. _There's no time! We'll lose anyway if this doesn't work!_

"Half a minute to go!" Jiraiya announced as several members of Taiyou sped to execute the plan.

One of Naruto's larger toad summons had just pulled Kurenai and Hanabi to safety when a loud explosion sounded from the Tsuki boat. Every single ninja paused and turned to survey the damage.

The sight that greeted them was a singed, but otherwise in-tact yellow boat, courtesy of Konan's origami papers protecting it. However, to the Tsuki tribe's ire, most of their collected baskets had been turned into a pile of ash.

"TIME'S UP!" Jiraiya shouted. "Taiyou wins immunity, sending Tsuki to tribal council tonight!"

* * *

 _Day 11 - Tsuki_

As soon as they arrived back at camp, Itachi looked pointedly at Kisame. They had to make use of the time they had now, as Kurenai and Hanabi had stayed behind to get their wounds checked by Tsunade. Recognizing the cue, the shark man gave a loud yawn and collapsed onto the shelter melodramatically.

"Man, I'm beat!" Kisame said, receiving eager nods of agreement from the Uchiha brothers. "That challenge really took it out of me."

Picking up his water canteen only to find it empty, Kisame let out a long sigh and pouted.

"Let me help replenish your flames of youth!" Gai took the bait. "I'll go get every one of us more water!"

As soon as Konoha's Green Beast disappeared into the jungle, Kisame immediately sat up and grinned at Itachi, who awarded his efforts with a smirk.

"Temari-chan," Itachi drawled, knowing that what he was about to say would pique her interest. "Kisame has agreed to form an Anti-Konoha Alliance with Sasuke and myself."

The Suna kunoichi looked rather startled at having the infamous Uchiha Itachi focus all of his attention on her. Pressing this advantage, Itachi continued.

"Of course, we would love for you to join us, seeing that you are also not from Konoha," Itachi continued. "I think we could be very beneficial to each other, seeing that we have this in common."

Temari glanced at Sasuke, who said nothing but merely raised an eyebrow in question. Looking to Kisame instead for confirmation, her ally since Day 1 patted the spot next to him in invitation.

"I'd very much rather play the game with these two instead of all the fake sunshine and rainbows crap that our old tribe kept spewing," Kisame stated plainly as Temari took a seat beside him. "They weren't really playing the game, were they?"

"Alright, that makes sense," Temari said. "That's fine by me."

Temari knew she had to tread carefully. With Kisame openly adamant about the side he had chosen, Temari was pretty sure that she would be the swing vote in the upcoming tribal council. She trusted Kisame the most out of anyone else in the game – but she would be lying if she said that she wasn't afraid of Itachi. She was also slightly distrustful of Sasuke.

"Who are we targeting?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"Either Hanabi or Kurenai," Itachi replied, his voice just as low. "We need Gai for the challenges."

"Agreed," Kisame said. "What about Hanabi's byakugan, though? It could help us in challenges too."

"Or she could also use it to spy on us," Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"What do you think, Temari-chan?" Itachi murmured, training his onyx eyes on her.

"Well," Temari swallowed, trying not to stutter. "We also have to remember that whoever we vote out is getting replaced by Haku, a former Beauty member."

"Not to mention we need to consider that Kurenai has more connections to the other tribe than Hanabi," Sasuke pointed out. "That could be either good or bad for us in the future."

Before they could come to a consensus, Gai returned from the water well and passed around their water canteens. Thanking him, everyone gulped down water as an excuse to fall silent, before excusing themselves to their regular duties around camp.

...

Later that afternoon, Temari found herself in the jungle with Gai, Kurenai and Hanabi. True to her hunch, she had been whisked away by the trio as soon as the two kunoichi had returned to camp. Hanabi was now fully conscious, with a dull ache in the back of her neck, while Kurenai had her leg bandaged up. They explained that Tsunade was only allowed to make sure they weren't in immediate danger, but healing and recovery had to be done through their own means.

"I'm very sure that Kisame, Itachi and Sasuke have formed an alliance," Gai began seriously.

Contrary to popular belief, Gai was not as oblivious as some might believe him to be. He had noted Itachi having private conversations with Kisame and Sasuke over the past couple days, and had come back from the water well an hour ago to find the group huddled up and deep in discussion.

"Well, there's nothing they can do if the four of us here stick together," Kurenai reasoned. She was a bit taken aback by not being included in the alliance, considering that it was Itachi, Sasuke and herself that were in the immediate minority. However, she was far from surprised by this development. "I think we have a good group here; we're all good people, and we can trust each other moving forward."

"Not to mention they'll be really tough to deal with when the merge happens," Hanabi agreed.

"Okay, so who do you guys want to vote out tonight?" Temari asked.

"I'd say Sasuke," Gai concluded after a moment of thought. "Kisame is extremely valuable in challenges and around camp, and Itachi is stronger than Sasuke."

"Might as well get rid of the other sharingan user," Kurenai nodded.

"Sasuke it is, then," Temari said. "Easy."

"Yes, this will be an easy vote," Hanabi assured them. "As long as we all stick to the plan, we'll be waking up here tomorrow."

Sneaking a quick glance to ascertain that no one was approaching, Gai beamed and held up his hand in a fist. The only other surrounding signs of life were a few large black colored birds in the trees and the sounds of crickets deeper in the jungle.

"Bring it in, guys!" Gai said excitedly, his smile only growing wider as three other fists joined his in a circle.

...

Snapping his eyes open, Itachi sat up in the shelter, looked at Kisame, and opened his mouth to speak -

"Woah," Kisame held up his hands, "How many times do I need to tell you not to do that around me? It's freaky, dude."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Itachi deactivated his sharingan.

"You should be used to it by now," Itachi responded dryly, before taking on a more serious tone. "They are going to vote for Sasuke tonight."

Kisame let out a low whistle. He knew that Itachi must be fuming on the inside right now - that man had _the_ biggest over-protective big brother syndrome in the entire universe.

"We need to make sure that Temari chooses to align with us," Itachi's voice was low and dangerous. "Tell her that we will vote whichever of those three that she wishes to get rid of."

"Sounds good to me," Kisame said. "I'm assuming we also don't tell Sasuke he's in danger tonight?"

"No," Itachi shook his head, his eyes traveling to Sasuke who was in the seawater. "No need to alarm him. Now go. She should be back soon."

Knowing better than to stick around or joke when Itachi was grumpy, Kisame nodded and moved off to find Temari. For the entire tribe's sake, Kisame dearly hoped that Sasuke would be coming back to camp with a lit torch tonight.

* * *

 _Night 11 - Tribal Council_

Haku was already seated on the spectator bench as the Tsuki tribe filed into the tribal council hut. He looked noticeably worn out, which was understandable. However, he still gave a friendly smile to each of the seven ninja who had just arrived.

"Tsuki," Jiraiya greeted as the last person sat down. "Let's get right to it. Two losses in a row, in your new tribe. Is that a bad omen?"

"Not at all!" Gai insisted. "We just need to learn to work together and compliment each other's strengths! Only then will our youth blossom!"

"Yeah," Temari added. "It's not that we suck; it's just that the other team was eerily well-coordinated with each other in that last challenge."

"Fair enough," Jiraiya admitted. "So, what now? If working together is the problem, does that mean that there is tension at camp?"

"No, not quite," Hanabi said before scoffing. At Jiraiya's indication to continue, she said, "It's just that there are two very clear alliances at the moment."

"Ah, yes!" Jiraiya said. "This tribe has four former Brawn members, two Beauties and one lone Brain. Are the alliances still sticking to this format?"

"Not at all," Kisame grinned. "Let's just put it out there, eh? I mean, we all kinda know anyway. It's me, Itachi and Sasuke on one side, and then the three from Konoha on the other. We're all hoping that Temari sides with us."

"Temari?" Jiraiya now directed his focus to the Suna kunoichi. "Is this true? If it is, it means that you're in the middle position for tonight."

"It's true," she admitted. "Both sides have come to me with their story, and whichever way I go tonight – there'll be a line drawn in the sand. I'm bound to upset some people no matter what I choose, so it's both a blessing and curse to have to make this decision."

"Alright then," Jiraiya said. "So, what are the pitches made by both alliances? Sasuke?"

"We need to start winning challenges," Sasuke said plainly. "And it's sad to say, but we think that Kurenai and Hanabi have performed the poorest in the challenges so far. They got injured in the last challenge. If we want to start winning, it has to be either one of those two."

"That's stupid," Hanabi glared daggers at Sasuke. "Having the byakugan could really come in handy for future challenges – you never know."

"Or you could use it against us in the future," Sasuke shot back. "Hanabi can't be trusted, especially in the merge next time. She could spy on everyone so easily."

"Well," Kurenai interjected. "Our side happens to think that Sasuke should be the one to go. If we're worried about working together for challenges and pulling strengths, having two sharingan users is just redundant."

"Correct," Gai nodded. "By keeping Hanabi and Kurenai, our team will still have a wider range of abilities to work with, and we'll have a higher chance of having an advantage in future challenges."

"Exactly," Kurenai added. "Also, both Itachi and Sasuke have similar skill sets. Itachi is just better. That's why Sasuke should go tonight."

That statement was met by a concentrated burst of killing intent that was so potent, it even had Jiraiya breaking into a nervous sweat. The arguing that filled the chamber was now reduced to an uncomfortable silence.

"Sasuke is more valuable to this tribe than the two of you combined," Itachi told Kurenai and Hanabi. His voice was calm and his expression collected, but his aura was deadly and promised threats of pain. "We lost the immunity challenge because the two of you were foolish enough to get hurt and had to sit out. Kurenai is still hurt. You even had to be saved by the opposing tribe when the explosion took place, whereas Sasuke scored for us multiple times."

Itachi's sharingan was now activated. "You are both pathetic, weak excuses of kunoichi. There is no comparison between Sasuke and myself. Rather, we should be focusing on the real problems of the tribe."

The older Uchiha's monologue was met with silence. Kurenai and Hanabi were both equal measures of horrified, embarrassed and furious. Sasuke was torn between anguish at being compared to his brother yet again, and being grateful to that same brother for standing up for him. Gai merely shook his head, while Kisame took the opportunity to send a meaningful glance at Temari, who was deep in thought. Haku was just immensely grateful that he had an advantage in his pocket if we was going to join this psychotic group of people.

"Well," Jiraiya clapped his hands, attempting to diffuse the tension. "I think now would be a good time to get to the vote."

...

Sasuke was feeling nervous for the first time in the game as Jiraiya collected the voting urn and placed it on the pedestal. He knew that his brother had an idol, and he would like to think that Itachi would play it for him if push came to shove. On the flip side, he also knew that playing it just to ensure his safety was risky; what if Temari actually voted with them? It would just waste an idol and offend the ally they had worked so hard to pull in.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol, and they would like to play it, now would be the time to do so."

Sasuke closed his eyes. He needed to have faith in his brother. If Itachi felt that Sasuke was safe enough to not play it, then he had to believe in that. The silence was deafening.

"Alright," Jiraiya continued. No one had moved a muscle. "Once the votes have been read, the person with the highest number of votes will be asked to leave the tribal council area immediately. I'll read the votes."

"First vote," Jiraiya said as he pulled out the first slip of paper. "Sasuke."

Sasuke felt his heartrate speed up.

"Second vote: Kurenai."

Kurenai exchanged glances with her alliance. So it was her that was the target of the other alliance for tonight.

"Third vote: Sasuke," Jiraiya read. "That's two votes Sasuke, one vote Kurenai."

Pulling out the next piece of parchment, Jiraiya read, "Kurenai. We're tied."

"Fifth vote: Sasuke," Jiraiya announced. "Next vote: Kurenai. That's three votes Sasuke, three votes Kurenai. One vote left."

Sasuke swore that his heart had stopped from beating way too fast. His gaze shifted to Temari, who was determinedly avoiding everyone's eyes, and then he looked to his older brother, who only looked back solemnly.

"Fourth person voted out of Survivor: Ninja Edition," Jiraiya paused for a split second before revealing the writing on the paper to the tribe. "Kurenai."

Sasuke breathed out a huge sigh of relief, before tapping Temari on her shoulder to mouth a quick 'thank you', receiving a smile in return. Gai had his head in his hands, before he took a deep breath and stood up to hug Kurenai goodbye together with Hanabi.

"Kurenai," Jiraiya said as the genjutsu mistress brought her torch to the front. "The tribe has spoken."

After watching her torch get snuffed out, Kurenai turned around to address the tribe.

"Good luck, everyone," she said with a wave of her hand, before walking out of the tribal council hut.

"Well, let's hope that tonight's vote will help this tribe gain momentum," Jiraiya told the members of Tsuki, "because you need it. Haku will now join your tribe. Go back to camp and get some rest. Goodnight."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Yew! Apologies for the delay in update, my friends. And yes, we had a 'drop your buffzzz' moment! I like to try and keep up with the twists and turns that the actual Survivor show loves so much. In case you were wondering, I used a randomizer to determine the new tribes. Once again, all views, reviews, follows and favorites mean the world to me, and thank you to everyone who's been reading so far! Also, pretty pretty please, if you guys have ideas/suggestions for challenges, that would be great. Til next time!


	5. It's A Work Of Art

**Previously on Survivor: Ninja Edition...**

A surprise tribe swap divided the remaining 15 castaways into two tribes; Deidara, Ino, Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru and Konan were put on the Taiyou Tribe, while Kisame, Hanabi, Gai, Temari, Itachi, Sasuke and Kurenai formed the new Tsuki Tribe. Haku drew the odd buff, sending himself to Exile where he found a 'Steal A Vote' advantage. At the Taiyou camp, Team 7 was united again, as well as Team 10 comrades Ino and Shikamaru, and Taiyou dominated the next two challenges with their superior teamwork and communication. Facing tribal council, Itachi put together the Anti-Konoha Alliance, a.k.a. AKA, and together they voted Kurenai out of the Tsuki Tribe, replacing her with Haku. 14 remain; who will be voted out tonight?

Ep 4 Votes:

Voted for Kurenai - Itachi, Sasuke, Kisame, Temari (4)  
Voted for Sasuke - Kurenai, Hanabi, Gai (3)

Idols/Advantages:

Naruto - Hidden Immunity Idol (no one knows about it)  
Itachi - Hidden Immunity Idol (Sasuke knows)  
Hanabi - Legacy Advantage (use at 11 or 6; no one knows)  
Haku - Steal A Vote (only good for his next tribal; no one knows)  
Unknown (former Beauty Tribe member) - Hidden Immunity Idol  
Konan - Fake Hidden Immunity Idol (Sakura and Shikamaru know, only Itachi knows its fake)

* * *

 **Survivor: Ninja Edition - Ep 5**

It's A Work Of Art

 _Night 11 - Tsuki_

As soon as she put her torch down back at camp, Temari warily approached Gai and Hanabi. The pair had not said a single word on the trek back from tribal council, and while that was not unusual for someone like Hanabi, it was definitely out of character for Gai.

Noting that Haku was being shepherded around by Sasuke, who was fetching him water and some fruit, Temari focused her attention on the pair in front of her.

"Hey guys," she began tentatively. At the sound of her voice, Hanabi inclined her head slightly and Gai raised his eyes to meet her sheepish gaze.

"I'm sorry about tonight," Temari said sincerely. "I just truly thought that our best chance of winning against the other tribe was to keep Sasuke."

"I don't blame you, Temari-chan," Gai placed a comforting hand on her shoulder while Hanabi gave a half-hearted shrug. "You did what you thought was best."

"Thanks, Gai," Temari said weakly. With nothing else to say, all she could do was watch the pair wander towards the fire pit and begin to converse in hushed tones once they had sat down.

She supposed that Gai's response was the best she could hope for - at least for tonight. Temari knew that if she was in their situation, she would probably have taken it a lot worse. However, she definitely stood by her choice to vote Kurenai out of the game. As far as trust went, Temari felt that she had to stick with Kisame, who was her ally from Day 1. Furthermore, if she, a Suna nin, went with the Konoha alliance, that move would've likely placed her at the bottom of the pecking order. It was better for her to take her chances with the Anti-Konoha Alliance.

"You made the right choice tonight, Temari," Kisame's voice interrupted her musing. While she had been lost in thought, the shark man and older Uchiha had made their way over to her.

"Thank you for keeping Sasuke in the game," Itachi said gently, before nodding his head in respect. "You have my trust."

Those words caused Temari to crack a smile. She supposed that she did make the right decision tonight after all.

* * *

 _Day 12 - Reward Challenge_

"Come on in, guys!" Jiraiya greeted the contestants jovially as they filed onto the beach. "Taiyou - getting your first look at the new Tsuki Tribe; Kurenai was voted out at the last tribal council and replaced by Haku, who is back from Exile."

The news was met with a few hushed exchanges of words among the Taiyou members. Noticing their reaction, Jiraiya addressed Deidara.

"Deidara," he called. "Why all the whispering over there?"

"Oh, we think it's kinda obvious, yeah," Deidara shrugged carelessly. "The four previous Brawn members seem to be running the show."

To their credit, no one on the Tsuki Tribe made any indication to confirm or deny Deidara's speculation. There were a few grins and poker faces from the various members of Tsuki, but none of them gave him a definitive answer. Sensing that nothing else was to going to be revealed, Jiraiya proceeded to explain today's challenge.

"Alright, let's get to today's reward challenge!" Jiraiya indicated to the sea, where two parallel rows of seven narrow perches had been built into the shallow water.

"Today's challenge is simple," he explained. "All seven tribe members will stand in a row while perched on narrow platforms. You will all raise your arms out to the side, where you will be working together with the people beside you to hold up disks with the palm of your hands. You are only allowed to use your palms, which means you and the person beside you need to find the right amount of force to exert together."

"Oh!" Naruto's eyes lit up in comprehension. "It's like a permanent hi-five! Easy!"

"Yes, but each disk weighs five kilograms," Jiraiya continued. "If you drop both your disks or lose balance and fall into the water, you are out of the challenge - but the rest of your tribe still continues on. The aim of the challenge is to outlast the other tribe - as long as two of you are still holding up a disk, you're still in it."

"The winning tribe will be treated to a luxurious assortment of desserts - mochi, dango, wagashi - you name it, it's there," Jiraiya grinned, already noting several longing expressions form on the contestants' faces. "I know it's worth playing for. We'll draw for spots and get started."

...

"Alright! Everyone is now in position," Jiraiya announced, surveying the fourteen ninja who were precariously perched on their tiny platforms. He himself was situated on a much larger wooden platform in order to proctor the challenge.

"For Taiyou, it is Shikamaru at the side, followed by Konan, Sakura, Kakashi, Ino, Deidara and Naruto at the other end of the line," Jiraiya said as he looked down the Taiyou line up. "For Tsuki, the spots they drew landed Itachi on one end, followed by Gai, Kisame, Hanabi, Haku, Sasuke and Temari on the other side."

"Survivors ready?" Jiraiya stole one last look at everyone, making sure that everything was in order. "This challenge is now on."

Almost immediately, several disks on Taiyou's line splashed into the seawater. This was quickly followed by Ino, who gracefully hopped off her post and made her way to Jiraiya's platform to observe the challenge.

"Ino," Jiraiya was shocked. "The challenge hasn't been on for five seconds and you've just given up. Is there any rationale behind this?"

"Of course," the blonde Yamanaka replied confidently as she tossed her damp hair behind her shoulder, not at all apologetic. "It's strategy - you can see how the Taiyou Tribe has paired up to conserve their energy and focus it to the right places. Shikamaru and Konan are now paired up, and so are Sakura and Kakashi, as well as Deidara and Naruto. It's our best chance of winning this."

"Sakura and Konan," Jiraiya now addressed the other kunoichi on the Taiyou Tribe. "You both have also let go of the disk between you. Is this part of the team's strategy that Ino has just mentioned?"

"Absolutely," Sakura replied. "It's a gamble to let go of a disk right off the bat, but we'll be able to last twice as long if it works."

"How unyouthful," Gai shook his head in disapproval.

"Very interesting and different approaches to this challenge by both tribes," Jiraiya acknowledged. "Taiyou has decided to focus on certain pairs, whereas Tsuki has chosen to stick it out. Let's see which one will pay off in the end."

...

"We are now fifteen minutes into the challenge," Jiraiya announced. "So far, only Ino is out of the challenge. Everyone left on Taiyou seems to be going strong; Hanabi and Temari seem to be tiring."

Hanabi clenched her teeth, annoyed. Yes, she was definitely breaking a sweat, but she was determined to prove to her tribe that she was not weak. After last night's tribal council, she knew that she could very well be the next person to go if they had to go to tribal council again. She was on the bottom of her tribe together with Gai, but there was no way that her tribe would vote Gai out instead of her as he was extremely valuable in the challenges.

"Don't say nothing about me," Hanabi ground out. "I'm doing just fine."

Her comment earnt her a chuckle from Kisame, which made her feel a bit better. However, her elation was short-lived as a splash from her other side took her by surprise. She jolted, causing the disk between her and Kisame to slip slightly, but she composed herself in time and prevented it from falling.

"Woah, girly," Kisame's deep voice rumbled softly. "Don't lose your focus."

"It was my fault," Haku said sheepishly as Hanabi flushed with embarrassment. "Sweaty palms."

"And with that, Tsuki has dropped their first disk!" Jiraiya announced. "Hanabi and Haku are now disconnected, and are holding up one disk each."

Resisting the urge to glare at Haku, Hanabi stared resolutely at the spot in front of her. Focusing her energy, she allowed her thoughts to dwindle away until she was only aware of her breath, feeling every inhalation and expulsion of air from her body.

Before she knew it, Hanabi was brought out of her meditation by a splash, the sound of cursing, and Jiraiya's voice.

"And just under thirty minutes into the challenge, Temari drops out!" came Jiraiya's announcement.

Willing her face to remain its impassive expression when all she really wanted to do was yell in triumph and point out that Temari was clearly the weak link instead of her, Hanabi forced herself to focus on her breathing again.

...

"This challenge has been going for one and a half hours," Jiraiya said.

By now, no matter how much breathing she did, Hanabi's left arm was visibly trembling as she fought to hold her disk up.

"Hanabi," Kisame called softly under his breath, shifting his gaze to her. "It's okay. You can let go."

The young Hyuuga could only shake her head stubbornly in response.

"It's alright, Hanabi," this time it was Gai. "You've done well. If you let go, you'll be helping Kisame as he'll only have one disk to focus on."

This made Hanabi turn her head, locking her eyes with Kisame. He gave her a curt nod and a small smile. It was true that she and Kisame were holding their disk at a rather awkward angle - he was practically twice her height, for crying out loud.

"Alright, if you say so," Hanabi whispered, exhausted.

Lowering her aching arm slowly, she let her disk fall into the water and joined the sit-out platform.

"Hanabi is out of the challenge!" Jiraiya announced. "We are now left with-"

However, it seemed that Hanabi's actions had created a chain reaction of sorts. Before Jiraiya could complete his sentence, Shikamaru had muttered an agitated "troublesome" as his disk slipped out from his palm and hit the water. Sakura, startled by the splash near her spot, jumped visibly and lost her balance on her perch, too tired to regain her bearings.

"And within the span of mere seconds, three disks have fallen into the water!" Jiraiya exclaimed, excited to have some action at last. "Hanabi, Shikamaru, Konan, Sakura and Kakashi are now out! Taiyou is depending on Naruto and Deidara now, while Tsuki still has Itachi, Gai, Kisame, Haku and Sasuke!"

The disappointed members of the Taiyou Tribe climbed onto Jiraiya's platform, apologizing to each other for slipping up, and cheering their remaining two teammates on.

While all the movement was happening, Itachi, Gai and Kisame had started a brief conversation, culminating in Itachi leaping off his perch to land directly on the viewing platform. He had landed even before his disk had hit the waves.

"And out of the blue, Itachi has removed himself from the challenge as well!" Jiraiya announced. "Is this a strategy by Tsuki?"

"It is," Itachi admitted, only slightly winded by his efforts in the challenge. "Gai can now properly concentrate on holding the disk with Kisame. We now have two pairs, while they only have one. The odds are in our favor."

...

"It has now been four and a half hours," Jiraiya announced, failing miserably at sounding enthusiastic.

Haku had dropped his disk somewhere around the two and a half hour mark, putting him and Sasuke out of the challenge. The showdown between the remaining pairs - Deidara and Naruto, as well as Gai and Kisame - had been going on ever since, with neither side showing signs of budging.

"Gai and Kisame," Jiraiya addressed the Tsuki pair. "How are you two holding up?"

"Spectacularly!" Gai shouted immediately. "I feel the youth coursing through my veins! If I cannot hold this disk up for another four days, I will have to do four hundred laps around Uzushiogakure on my hands! And if I cannot do that, I will-"

"Yeah, we're not going anywhere anytime soon," Kisame translated.

"Good answers," Jiraiya nodded, before turning to the remaining Taiyou pair. "What about you guys, Naruto and Deidara? Feeling good?"

"Amazing, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, his voice sounding rough with exertion. "I never ever give up!"

"Speak for yourself, yeah," Deidara panted. "It's fucking tough keeping up with you stamina freaks."

"You're doing awesome, Dei-kun!" Ino called from the main platform, causing the rest of the tribe to join in the encouragement. "So are you, Naruto!"

"Alright, alright," Jiraiya waved his hands. "So, because it looks like these four aren't going to give in for at least another day, and we really need to give the winning tribe their dessert and get on with the schedule, we're gonna up the ante."

Deidara's groan was drowned out by the enthusiastic cheers from Naruto and Gai.

"I'm going to add another five kilograms to the disks," Jiraiya explained as he began a series of handseals.

As he held the last hand seal in place, both disks glowed for a fraction of a second before the four ninja all let out yelps of surprise as they had to adjust to the sudden increase of weight. Kisame and Gai were able to successfully make the transition and regain their balance. The weight increase proved too much for a fatigued Deidara, however, and the explosives expert met the water face-first, the disk following soon after.

"And with that, Tsuki wins reward!" Jiraiya threw his hands high up into the air, forming miniature 'V's with his fingers to signify victory. "Your dessert spread will be waiting for you back at camp! Enjoy the rest of your day!"

The Tsuki Tribe immediately erupted into cheers, celebrating their first victory as a tribe. The members of Taiyou hung their heads, exhausted and disappointed, as they prepared for their trudge back to camp devoid of sugary treats.

"Taiyou, I've got nothing for you," Jiraiya waved a hand dismissively. "Head back to camp."

* * *

 _Day 12 - Tsuki_

The entire tribe was in high spirits from their first victory as a new tribe. Even Itachi couldn't hide a huge grin from coming to his face when they walked into camp and found a wide array of desserts waiting for them.

Dropping their bags and running to the table filled with sugary goodness in front of them, the Tsuki Tribe wasted no time in picking out a treat and toasting to their success.

"To Tsuki!" Gai's booming voice echoed across the beach. "May our youthfulness always burn bright!"

A round of cheering ensued, followed by a short silence as everyone took their first bite.

"Oh kami, this is amazing!" Temari moaned, savoring the strawberry mochi in her mouth. "Thank you, Kisame and Gai. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Yeah," Hanabi agreed. "We definitely won this one thanks to you two."

"Ah shucks, you guys," Kisame laughed, the sugar putting him in a good mood. "You hung on pretty well yourself, Hanabi."

"I did try my hardest," Hanabi smiled at the shark man as she punched his arm lightly. "Must be that old Brawn Tribe blood."

"Hey, how funny was that, by the way?" Temari interjected. "The other tribe thinking that the Brawn are in charge!"

"Hilarious!" Hanabi giggled, sharing a friendly look with the Suna kunoichi.

After polishing off several more sweets, the tribe agreed to save the remaining dessert and split it evenly between all of the members as the days wore on. Sugar was a valuable commodity out on the island, after all. Satisfied with the arrangement, the ninja began to wander off to complete their daily activities. Gai went to collect more firewood, Haku went to do his laundry, and Kisame went fishing, accompanied by Temari and Hanabi.

Left in the shelter with his older brother, Sasuke glared out at the ocean, where he could make out the figures of Kisame and his tag-alongs.

"Are you noticing this as well, aniki?" Sasuke whispered.

"Hn?" Itachi followed his brother's gaze to the water.

"Hanabi." Sasuke scoffed. "She's trying way too hard with Kisame and Temari, and they seem to be falling for it. It's pathetic."

"You have a point," Itachi conceded after he pondered Sasuke's words. "We'll make sure that she's the next to go."

"I want her gone, but is that the best move?" Sasuke asked. "The other tribe thinks that the former Brawn are calling the shots. Is there anything we can gain from letting them continue to think that?"

"If they assume that, it might make Naruto-kun a target," Itachi guessed. "Would that be beneficial to us?"

"Maybe," Sasuke frowned. "I'm not sure if Naruto will want to work me after what happened in that joint tribal council."

"If that's the case, we'll have to target Haku," Itachi said thoughtfully. Haku was the only non-Brawn on this tribe that wasn't a Uchiha.

"At the same time, I'd rather not," Sasuke admitted. "He's part of our alliance after all. We've been somewhat aligned since the start."

"And yet," Itachi countered, "I am slightly suspicious of him. He might have the idol from this beach. One of your former Beauty members has definitely found it, remember?"

"Argh! This is so frustrating," Sasuke groaned.

"We have time to think on it," Itachi assured him with a poke to the forehead. "If we lose the next immunity challenge, we can decide if it's Haku or Hanabi. But until then, don't stress yourself out unnecessarily."

* * *

 _Day 12 - Taiyou_

"I'm sorry, guys," Deidara sighed as he plopped himself down in the tribe shelter.

"Don't be, you did way better than most of us," Sakura assured him as Ino rubbed soothing circles into the Iwa nin's back.

"I really wanted some dessert, though," Naruto pouted.

"It's alright, we'll just make sure we win the next one," Kakashi told him.

They had just arrived back at camp, their spirits slightly dampened at their first loss as a tribe. After a couple minutes of moping, the group of seven pulled themselves together and continued on with their daily routines.

Deidara made sure to tag along with Konan as she gathered a bundle of her clothes and headed to a quiet spot on the beach to wash them. Grabbing a handful of his and Ino's clothes, the blonde artist joined his former Akatsuki comrade by the shallow water as she acknowledged him with a nod.

"I've been meaning to talk to you," Deidara began.

"Straight to the point, huh," Konan mumbled amusedly in response.

"I think the two of us are way past stuffy formalities," Deidara told her honestly.

Ino had told him to talk to Konan about aligning with them and Shikamaru. He had put it off for a couple of days, seeing that their tribe had been on a winning streak. However, the outcome of today's challenge had forced him to approach Konan before it was too late.

"Ino and I want to form an alliance with you and Shikamaru," he continued. "That way, it'll be us four in the majority against Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura."

"That's... an interesting proposal," Konan said slowly. "I'm curious to know what brought this on."

"Oh, come on," the explosives expert rolled his eyes. "I know you're not dumb, yeah. You've had to realize by now that those three have made an alliance 'cuz they're Team 7 or some shit like that."

"I have noticed," Konan said simply.

"So then you'd know the best option for you and Shikamaru would be to join Ino and me," Deidara told her earnestly. "Those three are dangerous together, and anyone who joins them will always be number four at best. You'd be crazy to align with them. If you come with us, on the other hand, it'll be like a democracy."

Konan was a smart woman - she already knew everything that Deidara was telling her. However, she was loathe to break up the former Brain alliance with Shikamaru and Sakura as they both knew about her idol. By picking either one to side with, it was practically guaranteed that the spurned individual would spill the beans on her advantage, thus painting a big target on her back. Konan also knew she was in a precarious position; out of the entire tribe, she was the one with the least number of connections within the group.

"Alright, I'm in," Konan looked Deidara in the eye as she shook his hand.

"Awesome!" Deidara grinned at her. "I knew you'd make the right choice, yeah."

Smiling back at her former Akatsuki member, Konan resumed her washing with Deidara doing the same beside her. She wasn't completely sold on the idea that the four consisting of herself, Shikamaru, Deidara and Ino would be on equal standing, but she had little choice other than to go with it for now. Before she made her choice, Konan decided she'd need to first have a conversation with Shikamaru and Sakura to get a sense of where she stood in the tribe, and then act accordingly from there. There could still be a chance that they would both want to keep the Brain alliance in tact.

* * *

 _Day 13 - Immunity Challenge_

"Come on in, guys!" Jiraiya waved his arms in welcome as the fourteen ninja filed into the small clearing.

"We are here in the dense jungles of Uzushiogakure, where the early Uzumaki used to forage for food," Jiraiya explained, "and it is here where we will begin our next challenge for tribal immunity."

A quick glance around the clearing revealed two tables on either side of the Sannin that were filled with several covered boxes. Additionally, a medium-sized roulette wheel stood behind him. There were words written on each section of the wheel, and Jiraiya wore a devious grin as he watched the contestants register just exactly what words they were reading.

"No way!" Ino covered her mouth in horror, her eyes comically wide. "We're gonna have to eat bugs?! A-and _things_?"

"Right you are, Ino!" Jiraiya exclaimed, noting with glee that a few others were beginning to share in Ino's disgust. "For today's challenge, you will face off one on one against the opposing tribe in an eating contest! After you pick your contenders, I will spin the wheel and whoever eats whatever quicker will score a point for their tribe. There will be seven rounds in total, and the tribe that scores higher will be safe tonight. The losing tribe will pay me a visit at tribal council where somebody will be going home."

Before anybody else could protest, Jiraiya continued, "Every member needs to go once. I'll give you a minute to decide what order you'll be going in, and we'll get started."

…

"Alright! First up we have Naruto from Taiyou taking on Itachi from Tsuki," Jiraiya announced, giving the roulette an enthusiastic spin. "Let's see what's on the menu!"

Everyone waited with bated breath as the wheel gradually slowed to a halt.

"Fish sperm sacs?!" The look on Naruto's face was half disbelief, half morbid curiosity.

"Yep," Jiraiya confirmed as he lifted the lids of two boxes. "From puffer fish, specifically. Ready? And eat!"

Although both Itachi and Naruto looked like they would very much rather be doing anything else, they instantly stuffed the white, gooey substance into their mouths. Naruto was bouncing from foot to foot, while Itachi unsuccessfully tried to hide his grimace.

"Come on, Naruto!" Sakura called. "Pretend it's a new ramen flavor!"

"Yeah!" Deidara added eagerly. "Devour it, un!"

Emboldened by his tribe mates' encouragement, Naruto forced himself to swallow the food and stuck his tongue out at Jiraiya to show an empty mouth.

"Naruto has it!" Jiraiya declared as the blonde in question pumped a fist into the air triumphantly. "Taiyou scores the first point!"

The second round saw Deidara from Taiyou challenging Gai from Tsuki. After another spin of the wheel, Jiraiya uncovered another two boxes of food.

"Gai and Deidara will be eating deep fried tarantulas!" the Sannin said. "Your time starts now - go!"

The two shinobi attacked their portions with ferocity, but Deidara was no match for Gai. Within a matter of seconds, the Green Beast of Konoha showed Jiraiya an empty mouth and praised youth as Tsuki was awarded their first point.

"Next we have Taiyou's Kakashi up against Tsuki's Kisame!" Jiraiya said as he spun the roulette. "You will be eating fertilized duck egg and-"

"Wait a minute!" Naruto bellowed. "Does this mean we _finally_ get to see Kaka-sensei's face?"

There was a collective moment of silence as everyone stared at Kakashi expectantly.

"Well, my cute student," Kakashi held up his hands placatingly as Sakura and Sasuke shared meaningful glances with their blonde teammate, "I think what we should be more focused on is that there is a half-developed embryo in this egg-"

"Nice try, but it's not gonna work," Naruto crossed his arms defiantly.

"Yeah!" Sakura nodded her head. "You need to eat this in front of everyone, after all."

"And you need to _show_ Jiraiya your empty mouth," Sasuke added with a victorious smirk.

Sensing there was no denying it, Kakashi sighed. "Very well," he said as he hung his head.

"Okay, uh, if that's settled then let's get on with it," Jiraiya's confusion was shared by everyone else in the area, having expected Kakashi to put up a bit more of a fight. "Ready, and eat!"

To everyone's fascination, the egg in Kakashi's hand disappeared into thin air. Seconds later, his cheeks bulged and he started chewing. Even Kisame was staring dumbfounded at Kakashi as he crunched on his own egg.

The answer became apparent soon enough, however.

"Oh god," Sakura groaned as Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you used Obito's sharingan to warp dimensions just so you could get away with this!"

"I take my privacy seriously," Kakashi mumbled as he chewed, shifting his headband back over his sharingan eye.

In the end, however, Kisame won the match easily thanks to his razor sharp teeth, bringing Tsuki into the lead and saving Kakashi from having to show Jiraiya his empty mouth. Though he would never admit it, Sasuke was actually disappointed for once that his tribe scored a point.

"Tsuki now leads two to one!" Jiraiya stated. "Let's start the next round!"

Sakura and Temari were the ones to step up to the plate for Taiyou and Tsuki respectively, glancing at the spinning roulette that would determine their menu.

"Fermented horse milk!" Jiraiya told them. "In three, two, one - start!"

Sakura wasted no time in grabbing her cup and chugging down its contents. She told herself to channel Tsunade - after all, she'd witnessed her mentor downing entire sake bottles in a matter of seconds one too many times.

"Shannaro!" the pink-haired medic exclaimed as she slammed her empty cup back down on the table, sticking her tongue out to Jiraiya. Temari was still struggling with her first few gulps.

"We are now tied!" Jiraiya acknowledged. "Both tribes have two points each."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's eyes were practically filled with stars. "You're so cool!"

"Up next we have Konan representing Taiyou, and Haku for Tsuki," Jiraiya said, beckoning the pair forward. Both looked equally determined to help their tribe pull ahead by scoring the next point.

"You will be eating jellied moose nose!" Jiraiya announced, enjoying how he got a few double takes as his words registered. "Ready? Go!"

There was zero hesitation as both Konan and Haku devoured their portion of nose. As two people who had lived through the horrors of war since their childhood, there were several occasions where they had to eat anything they could find in order to survive. A bit of moose nose was child's play to them.

It was a very close call, but Konan managed to show Jiraiya an empty mouth a split second before Haku did.

"And Taiyou is now in the lead with three points!" Jiraiya declared to the cheering of the three loud blondes on the tribe. "Let's begin the next round."

Ino and Hanabi stepped forward, sizing each other up with their gaze.

"Ino can win it right here for Taiyou," Jiraiya reminded the entire group. "Hanabi is hoping to tie it up and keep Tsuki in the challenge."

As the roulette was spun yet again, Ino found herself dreading what she might get. Given her way, she'd bow out of the challenge entirely, but with the added pressure of potentially winning the entire challenge for her tribe, she knew that she had no option but to give it a shot.

"Your dish is white ant egg soup," Jiraiya's words almost had Ino gagging already. Even Hanabi's usual poker face was in danger of cracking.

At the Sannin's signal, both kunoichi dived into their soup. While their effort was admirable, it was clear that both of them were struggling. Hanabi was turning a peculiar shade of green and Ino was doing a poor job of holding back her gag reflex.

"Come on, Ino-pig!" Sakura's voice reached the blonde Yamanaka's ears. "Just pretend it's tofu! Or barley! Or just any of your healthy diet foods!"

Easy for her to say, Ino thought darkly as she pinched her nose in hopes of blocking out some of the taste. She took another mouthful of the soup and fought down the urge to cough. Forced herself to swallow and-

"Hanabi is cleared! We are once again tied!" Jiraiya exclaimed. Sure enough, the bowl in front of the now queasy-looking Hyuuga was empty. "We'll move on to our final round with Shikamaru and Sasuke."

Angrily, Ino spat out whatever was left in her mouth as Shikamaru murmured a quiet "troublesome" as he prepared for his round. He was secretly hoping that Ino would win and save him the effort of having all the pressure on him to win.

"Chocolate-covered locusts!" Jiraiya told them once the wheel came to a stop. "Begin!"

Both ninja began rapidly shoving the insects into their mouths and chewing furiously. Egged on by their tribemates' cheering, neither refused to slow down or break their concentration. While Sasuke was not a fan of sweets, he knew that winning immunity for his tribe was a lot more important than his food preferences. Even the laid back Shikamaru was looking rather frenzied as he raced to finish his food as soon as possible. Going to tribal touncil would be infinitely more tedious than hustling right now.

At the last moment, however, Sasuke managed to pull ahead of Shikamaru and slammed his palms down on the table to get Jiraiya's attention as he opened his mouth to show it was empty.

Only a mouthful behind, Shikamaru swallowed and shook his head in disappointment. It was going to be messy tonight.

"And Tsuki wins tribal immunity!" Jiraiya declared, his voice almost drowned out by Gai's joyful proclamations of Sasuke's youth. "Tsuki, you may had back to camp and enjoy the night off. Taiyou, I'll see you tonight at tribal council where one of you will be next person to be voted out."

* * *

 _Day 13 - Taiyou_

As soon as they hit the beach, Konan found herself and Shikamaru promptly whisked away by Sakura. Sparing a discreet glance behind her as the trio made their way to the water well, Konan observed Naruto keeping Ino and Deidara occupied with his loud, dramatic antics.

Wasting no time, Sakura started speaking as soon as they were out of earshot.

"I would like us three to stay strong," the medic spoke up, looking each of them in the eye.

"I'd like that too," Konan admitted easily. It was the truth, after all.

Shikamaru looked deep in thought as he spoke. "What do you propose, Sakura?"

"As much as it pains me to say it," Sakura's eyes fell shut as she took in a deep breath. "I think Ino should go home."

Risking a quick look at Shikamaru, Konan noted a slight pinching of his brows before it disappeared behind a mask of indifference. Interesting. Maybe the Nara genius did have a protective streak when it came to his female teammate?

Sensing the need to elaborate, Sakura continued, her voice soft and convincing. "I'm not happy about it, but Ino-pig is obviously the weakest member of our tribe. We need to be winning challenges, and the only advantage she gives us is her clan jutsu, which in itself is a wildcard. We don't know if she could use it in the future against us."

"That's a fair point, Sakura-chan," Konan nodded.

"Challenges are only one part of the game," Shikamaru countered. "Ino is good at gathering information and keeping secrets. Playing the game with someone like Ino is easy as you know what to expect from her. It's unfortunate, but I truly think that Naruto should go. He's too unpredictable and indiscreet to have as an ally."

Something flashed in Sakura's eyes, but before Konan could identify what it was, the pinkette was already smiling sweetly.

"But doesn't that make playing with Naruto even better?" she shot back. "People underestimate him, and that would give us the advantage."

"Same with Ino," Shikamaru pointed out. "She's not a physical threat, which makes her great to take into the merge. Naruto could easily go on an immunity winning streak. It's best to take him out before that happens."

"That's unlikely with people like Gai and Kisame around," Sakura snorted. "But if someone like Ino makes it to the end, she'll beat us hands down for several reasons!"

Noticing that two pairs of eyes were now staring at her, silently screaming for her to take their side, Konan sighed. So much for keeping the Brain alliance together.

"Look, I see both your points," Konan said, taking care to keep her voice neutral. "I need a bit of time to think it through as our decision will definitely affect our tribe. I don't want to rush it."

Seeing their reluctant expressions, Konan felt the need to add, "But rest assured that I want to have both your backs. We need to stick together, no matter what we choose in the end."

"Okay," Sakura's smile didn't quite reach her eyes as she regarded Shikamaru.

"Take your time. We'll wait," Shikamaru's voice was a bit too polite.

…

Turned out that waiting was not an option. Over the past hour, it seemed that both of Konan's former tribemates had individually decided that it was not going to work and had approached her separately to persuade her to join their side. Only this time, Sakura had gone after Shikamaru and Shikamaru had also gone after Sakura, each of them telling Konan to vote the other off as they were the only ones who knew about her idol.

"Shikamaru is too smart for anyone's good!" Sakura had huffed to her. "Besides, he's so goddamn lazy - who in the world would want a bum for an ally?"

"Sakura is way too stubborn to work with," she remembered Shikamaru complaining. "And you can bet she's already told Kakashi and Naruto about your idol!"

Konan would've laughed if she wasn't feeling so torn. Being a pacifist by nature and only wishing for peace, she truly found it hard to take sides. They both made excellent arguments - keeping Sakura meant being on the bottom of the Team 7 pecking order. Keeping Shikamaru meant keeping a major strategic threat who could very well make it all the way to the end.

Eventually, she had ended up telling both of them that they could count on her vote, when in reality, she had absolutely no clue about what she wanted to do.

…

"Urgh!" Sakura punched a tree in frustration, causing the poor bark to crumble under her wrath.

"S-sakura-chan," Naruto smiled nervously, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure we have nothing to worry abou-"

"Shikamaru was targeting _you_ , Naruto!" the petite kunoichi snarled. "I think you should be a bit more concerned about Konan's decision as one of us could be going home!"

Strangely enough, tears of joy sprang to the blonde's eyes.

"Sakura-chan!" he cried happily. "You really do love me!"

Kakashi merely observed his female former student bop his male former student on the head before he turned to the next page of Icha Icha.

They were currently deep in the jungle for a much needed team meeting. Or more like Sakura needed to vent without scaring the rest of the tribe; that would be counter-productive to getting Konan on their side. Reaching out with his chakra, Kakashi was satisfied to note that their other tribe members were right where they left them - Shikamaru, Ino and Deidara were close together on one side of the beach, while Konan was by herself on the other.

"It just bothers me so much," Sakura was now saying. "I'm really scared that one of us is going home - it shouldn't take Konan this long to decide what she wants to do!"

"If it helps, the other group is probably feeling the same way," Naruto tried to ease her worry.

"It does seem like Konan-san is waiting until tribal council to make her decision," Kakashi noted.

"But that's not good enough!" Sakura ground out, stomping a rock on the ground and reducing it to powder. "There's too much risk."

"Maybe this will help!" Naruto pulled a necklace out from his pocket and brandished it around.

Kakashi and Sakura both paused, eyes widening.

"Is that what I think it is?" Sakura's anger had vanished.

"Yep! Found it a few days ago here!" Naruto chirped, holding out his immunity idol for his team to see. "So if everything goes to shit, I will use it for us."

"Naruto, that's amazing!" the blonde was pulled into a tight hug by Sakura, but she was frowning again as she released him. "It won't matter though, unless we know what Konan's decision is."

That was true, Kakashi agreed in his head as the three of them lapsed into silence. If they knew outright that Konan was siding with the other alliance, they could put their efforts into figuring out which of the three of them to play the idol on. If they knew for sure that Konan was with them, then there was no use wasting the advantage, and Naruto would be able to save it for another day. But not knowing where Konan stood at all (and Kakashi was pretty sure Konan herself didn't know where she stood) was problematic, which led him to the idea of...

"Just turn the vote on Konan," the copy-nin found himself saying.

"Kakashi-sensei's finally fried his brain from reading too much smut," Naruto stage whispered to Sakura.

"Konan's problem is choosing a side," Kakashi went on as if Naruto hadn't just said what he said. "Shikamaru and team doesn't have that same problem."

Sakura considered it for a few seconds before she shook her head. "It's too risky," she said. "Shikamaru and I have been at each others' throats this whole afternoon and tribal council is only half an hour away."

"I like risk," Naruto stated.

"You just called Kakashi-sensei crazy a few seconds ago, baka," Sakura muttered. "Besides, there's always a chance that Shikamaru will use that to turn Konan fully onto their side if she hears we're now angling for her."

"There's a way to get around that," Kakashi reasoned. "You said it yourself - we only have less than half an hour left. We can use that to our advantage. Don't forget that Naruto and I are here to help."

Sakura wanted to scream in frustration. Now _she_ didn't know what to do.

* * *

 _Night 13 - Tribal Council_

"Welcome to your first tribal council as the Taiyou Tribe," Jiraiya greeted the group as they entered the hut. He waited patiently until all the ninja were seated on the benches before proceeding.

"Let's dive right into it, shall we?" Jiraiya grinned widely. "The trip swap actually reunited all of you to certain people, in a way. Ino - would you say that holds true for you?"

"Definitely," the pretty Yamanaka agreed. "Me and Shika have been reunited, as well as Deidara and Konan. And then, of course, Team 7."

Sakura didn't miss the way her rival had made it sound, and forced herself to keep a neutral expression on her face.

"And Naruto," Jiraiya looked to his apprentice. "Is it fair to say that those bonds have affected the game?"

"Of course!" Naruto chirped. "I'm super happy to be playing with Sakura-chan and Kaka-sensei!"

"Does that mean old tribal alliances are out the window?" Jiraiya asked him curiously.

"I think so," Naruto scratched the back of his head and shrugged casually. "But then again, I'm the only Brawn member so I can't say for sure."

"Oh I'm pretty sure it's a thing, yeah," Deidara piped up. "Since we became a new tribe, Kakashi's barely said two words to Ino and myself. He's always hanging around his 'cute little students' now."

To his credit, Kakashi remained unperturbed and merely gave his signature eye-smile.

"So correct me if I'm wrong," Jiraiya ventured on when it was clear Kakashi was not going to offer a response, "But it sounds like there are two main alliances within this tribe now."

"Right," Deidara confirmed. "There's Ino, Shikamaru and myself, and then Team 7 over there. Konan's in the middle, but really I'm sure she's smart enough to know it's the best move to come with us, un."

"Wow," the Toad Sage now directed his full attention onto the blue-haired woman. "If that statement holds true, then you're the deciding vote for tonight, Konan."

"Yes," Konan nodded slowly. "Both sides have come to me with their cases, and both are equally convincing. Truth be told, I'm really struggling to make a decision as both Shikamaru-kun and Sakura-chan were loyal allies to me while we were on the Brain Tribe."

"Well, a decision does have to be made in a few moments when we vote," Jiraiya reminded her. "So, let's have both alliances state their final case to help Konan make a decision. Sakura - what do you have to say?"

"You can trust us to keep our word, Konan," Sakura said, shooting a pointed glare at the Nara heir. "It's our ninja way. By joining us, you will be gaining three strong allies who will never betray each other, and it is that strong bond that will keep you safe through the merge and bring you to Day 39. Once we make a plan, we mean business. I can't say the same at all for the other group, however."

"Well said," Jiraiya acknowledged the medic. "What is your alliance's case to Konan, Shikamaru?"

"Ninja have to be adaptable and able to improvise, Sa-ku-ra," the Nara heir drawled, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. "A stubborn, rigid ninja is a dead ninja, no matter how honorable. It's best to take your chances with us, Konan. If you go with Team 7, you will always be in fourth place. And we all know that only three make it to Day 39."

"Both sides do make some fair points," Jiraiya said, quickly holding up his hands to stop the glaring match that had started between Sakura and Shikamaru. "Konan - does that help you make up your mind?"

"It... it has helped," a thoughtful frown was etched onto Konan's features.

"Alright, then it is time to vote."

…

Konan's heart was pounding as she watched Jiraiya re-enter the hut with the voting urn in his hands. While logic dictated that she was the swing vote for tonight and thus safe, another part of her couldn't help but feel as if something was amiss.

That feeling had only amplified when Sakura and Shikamaru were told to present their cases to her. Yes, they had addressed her as they glared daggers at each other, but their words had put a queasy feeling in her stomach. It was almost as if they were bartering with each other just as much as they were with her.

"If anyone has a hidden immunity idol and would like to play it, now would be the time to do so," Jiraiya's voice broke through her thoughts.

Her nerves making her hyper-aware, Konan felt every discreet glance shared by her tribe members and every shift of weight in their seats. Something was wrong. She didn't feel safe.

Standing up suddenly, Konan made her way to Jiraiya with determined strides. She pretended that she wasn't painfully aware of how every eye in the vicinity was glued to her as she reached into her bindings and pulled out her idol.

"I don't know if this is the right thing to do," she admitted softly as she handed her idol to Jiraiya. "But I need to go with my gut."

The hut was eerily quiet. Her voice was soft, but Konan had no doubt that everyone could hear what she was saying.

"I'm playing it for myself."

With that, Konan turned around to head back to her seat. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Naruto's look of panic, before he quickly clamped down on his emotions and schooled his features back into a neutral expression. The observation made her feel a bit better. Perhaps her gut was right after all?

"This," Jiraiya said once she had taken her seat, "is _not_ a hidden immunity idol."

" _What?!_ "

Sakura's shocked outburst barely registered with Konan as her entire being went numb. That numbness soon gave way to disbelief, confusion, and finally, anger.

"Of course it's an immunity idol," she snapped. "I found it on the Brain Tribe's beach days ago."

To her ire, Jiraiya started to chuckle. "You definitely found something, alright – it's a work of art, I'll admit that."

Losing all traces of humor, the Toad Sannin looked her square in the eye as he threw the necklace into the fire pit in the middle of the hut.

"But an idol it is not."

Paralysed with shock, Konan could only watch with wide eyes as the flames consumed what was once her blanket of safety in the game.

"That necklace holds no power in this game," Jiraiya continued unapologetically. "All votes cast for Konan tonight _will_ count."

As she vaguely heared Jiraiya announce that he would read the votes, Konan glanced at Sakura and Shikamaru. They both wore identical looks of confusion, and their brows were furrowed in thought.

"First vote," Jiraiya read, "Sakura."

To her credit, the pinkette in question looked unfazed.

"Next vote – Shikamaru."

The Nara genius sent a pointed look towards the general vicinity of Team 7, as the trio stared right back at him.

"Third vote – Sakura," Jiraiya announced. "That's two for Sakura, and one for Shikamaru."

Konan was beginning to feel stupid now. Things were going as planned, and yet she made a scene and played her idol, telling her allies she didn't fully trust them. Getting humiliated when it turned out to be a fake was just the cherry on top.

"Konan."

The ex-Akatsuki kunoichi looked around to see who had called her, but dread settled over her being as she realised that it was Jiraiya. Her former teacher was holding a voting parchment with her name written on it.

"Next vote – Konan," Jiraiya stated. "That's two for Konan and Sakura, and one for Shikamaru."

Perhaps she wasn't such a fool after all, Konan decided as her eyes narrowed. It was just a shame that her idol was unwittingly a fake.

"Konan."

There was yet another piece of paper with her name on it. Rounding on Team 7, Konan felt her anger grow when all three of them refused to meet her eyes, their expressions guilty. But there was still one vote left – there was a small chance that it would lead to a tie and a re-vote.

Picking up the final piece of parchment, Jiraiya unfolded it and stared at the name written there. His movements were frustratingly slow, and his face betrayed none of his thoughts.

"Fifth person voted out of Survivor: Ninja Edition," Jiraiya revealed the name on the paper. "Konan."

Hanging her head in defeat for a brief moment, Konan then stood up and approached Jiraiya with her torch.

As her flame was snuffed out and she was told that "the tribe has spoken", Konan turned back to face her tribe mates.

"Well played, you two," she nodded to her former Brain Tribe members, noting with no small amount of glee that Ino and Deidara were throwing furious looks towards the Nara heir.

Waiting until the blue-haired kunoichi had departed the hut, Jiraiya addressed the remaining six Taiyou ninja.

"From the looks of it, there has been a lot of confusion tonight," the Sannin said. Dipping his head slightly in Kakashi's direction, he continued, "quoting from a wise man – look underneath the underneath. That's the only way to get further in this game. Grab your torches and head back to camp. Goodnight."

* * *

 **Bonus scene**

 _Day 13 (Right Before Tribal Council) - Taiyou_

Shikamaru glanced over to the other side of the beach from where he sat with Ino and Deidara. Following his line of sight, the two blondes frowned.

"She's on our side, right?" Ino raised a delicate eyebrow. "I mean, both of you spoke to her."

Deidara nodded. "She told me she'd vote with us yesterday, un."

Not wanting to put doubt into his alliance members, Shikamaru just nodded mutely. Inwardly, however, he had to admit that tonight was going to be a gamble. He could only hope that Konan would side with them seeing that she had history with Deidara, and would see that there was no penetrating the Kakashi-Naruto-Sakura trio.

A loud disturbance in the form of an orange blur broke the ninja out of their thoughts. It was Naruto.

"Look, Ino!" Naruto all but shrieked in excitement. "I found more bugs for us to eat after that challenge!"

Shoving a fistful of what looked like beetles into the Yamanaka's face, Naruto proceeded to dare her to try them first. Naturally, it earned him a shrill scream as the girl scrambled behind Deidara, trying to put as much distance between herself and the bugs as possible. Undeterred, Naruto gave chase and Shikamaru sweatdropped as he watched the three loud blondes on his tribe trip and stumble over each other as they ran further down the beach and away from him.

"You would think they'd be a bit more serious," Sakura's voice drifted over to him. "Tribal council starts in just another ten minutes, after all."

It was then that Shikamaru realized he was standing alone with Sakura. A quick glance to his other side told him that Kakashi had gone to sit with Konan. Something was definitely up.

"How troublesome," he sighed. "What do you want?"

Seeing no point in beating around the bush, Sakura told him plainly, "The three of us are gonna vote Konan out. Join us."

"And why would I do that?" Shikamaru asked, his guard up.

"Look, I think it's a waste for us to be at each other's throats," Sakura admitted, her voice gentle. "I mean, you've had my back since Day 1 and I yours. We only started fighting now because we're both trying to protect our precious people."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. He knew this. "And?"

"And I think it's pathetic of us to let the fate of our precious people be decided by a woman who barely knows any of us," Sakura declared, her eyes brimming with fire. "I say that we get rid of the idea of chance and take matters into our own hands so that we can be sure."

Nodding slowly, Shikamaru pondered her words. "But how do I know this isn't one big trap?"

"Just look at her!" Sakura hissed, discreetly gesturing in Konan's direction. "We're practically out of time and she still can't make up her mind! I don't want to leave my game up to someone like her – it's like flipping a frickin' coin."

"So you want to blindside her with the idol in her pocket," Shikamaru concluded, earning himself a hopeful nod from Sakura.

A loud yell reminded the pair that they were not alone and were running very short on time. The blondes of their tribe were now running back in their direction.

"Just – consider it, okay?" Sakura's voice now held a hint of desperation. "I promise you can trust us. You have my word."

They were forced to end their conversation there as Ino all but tackled Naruto into their path, forcing Shikamaru and Sakura to jump away from each other.

Watching as Sakura proceeded to pinch Naruto's ear and give him a big telling off, Shikamaru allowed himself to think.

Truth be told, there really was no harm in going along with Sakura's plan if she was being sincere. His alliance had zero idols and advantages, while he knew for sure that Konan had an idol and the other alliance was a question mark. Before Sakura had come to him, the best he could hope for was that Konan would somehow choose to keep him over Sakura. But with this new plan, he was definitely safe. With three votes on Konan from Team 7 and two votes on Sakura from Ino and Deidara, it truly didn't matter who Konan chose to vote for.

As he picked up his torch and prepared to leave for Tribal Council, Shikamaru realized that he was the real swing vote of the night. He could still choose to vote Sakura, but _if_ Konan voted him, that would lead to a tie and re-vote where Sakura would go home. But that would still leave Konan in the game with a hidden immunity idol, and this scenario was still a big ' _if_ ' depending on Konan. And _if_ Team 7 sniffed out that he was still voting for Sakura, they could very well switch their votes back onto him – not to mention any potential idols they might have. Troublesome.

His best option would be to make himself the deciding vote and target Konan. He preferred to be in control than at the mercy of someone else. Doing so would eliminate her with an idol in her pocket, or if she sensed things were amiss, she would play her idol and Sakura would go home. Either way, it would flush out the idol and guarantee that he would be safe tonight. Shikamaru was no fool; he didn't hold out hope for Konan to use her idol on him in the future, especially once the merge came.

Sighing as the Tribal council hut came into view, Shikamaru decided that his ideal scenario tonight would be for Konan to go home with the idol in her pocket. The second best option would be to flush out her idol, but that would come at the expense of Sakura leaving instead. Even after being at odds for the whole afternoon, he still trusted Sakura a lot more than he trusted Konan.

He just hoped it would work, and that Ino wouldn't hate him too much once the night was done.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hey guys, I'm back! I know it's been months since the last update and I apologize, but I'm super determined to complete this series and not abandon it. To make up for my absence, I've written the longest episode yet and hope that the twists and turns have satisfied you. Also that little bonus scene. There will obviously be a lot of damage control to be done at the start of the next chapter with Ino and Deidara, as well as the fake idol biz.

Thank you sooooo much to everyone who's reading, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Please review, favorite and follow! As always, I'm open to all suggestions - challenge ideas, strategic plays, questions etc. Also let me know who you're rooting for!

Til next time xxx


	6. Blonde Sharingan Babies Eat Tomato Ramen

**Previously on Survivor: Ninja Edition...**

The tables were turned when the Tsuki Tribe won both subsequent reward and immunity challenges. With their newfound time, Hanabi had been working hard to crack into Tsuki's Anti-Konoha Alliance (AKA), while Itachi expressed concern to Sasuke that a former Beauty Tribe member had secretly found a hidden immunity idol. On the other hand, tensions were rising in the Taiyou Tribe as two new distinct alliances emerged. Facing tribal council, the Brain Alliance dissolved as Shikamaru and Sakura butted heads and attempted to swing Konan to their side. Worried that Konan was taking too long to choose, the Team 7 alliance extended an offer to Shikamaru which he accepted. At tribal council, Konan sensed things were amiss and played her immunity idol, only to find out that it was in fact a fake. However, her suspicions were proved right as she was voted out of the game. 13 remain; who will be voted out tonight?

Ep 5 Votes:

Voted for Shikamaru - Konan (1)  
Voted for Sakura - Ino, Deidara (2)  
Voted for Konan - Sakura, Kakashi, Naruto, Shikamaru (4)

Idols/Advantages:

Naruto - Hidden Immunity Idol (Sakura and Kakashi know)  
Itachi - Hidden Immunity Idol (Sasuke knows)  
Hanabi - Legacy Advantage (use at 11 or 6; no one knows)  
Haku - Steal A Vote (only good at his next tribal; no ones knows)  
Unknown (former Beauty Tribe member) - Hidden Immunity Idol

* * *

 **Survivor: Ninja Edition - Ep 6**

Blonde Sharingan-Eyed Babies Eating Tomato Ramen

 _Night 13 - Taiyou_

As soon as the six tribe members set their torches down at camp, Shikamaru found himself being hauled away by his blonde teammate.

"What the hell was that?" Ino hissed, her fists clenching the collar of his vest.

Sensing that it was an important conversation, Deidara wandered over to the pair. While his own hand gently grasped Ino's wrist and pulled it away from Shikamaru, the Iwa-nin's gaze was guarded and distrustful.

"Sakura came up to me minutes before we left for tribal with a plan to vote Konan out," Shikamaru told TABPP (the annoying blonde ponytail pair). "I literally didn't have time to tell either of you. You both were... occupied."

Catching the shift of her teammate's eyes towards where Team 7 was huddled around the campfire, Ino's eyes widened.

"Just wait til I get my hands on that Naruto..." she grumbled.

"Have to give him a little credit for a good distraction, yeah," Deidara muttered.

"That still doesn't mean you're off the hook, though, Shikamaru." Ino folded her arms and glared at him, although her voice lacked any real anger in it.

"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru grumbled under his breath. Then more audibly, he told her, "Just know that I went through countless scenarios in my head and concluded that following their plan was the best way to be certain all three of us were safe."

"But then what was the deal with that weird fake idol?" Deidara cut in. "Did you know about it?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "I thought it was real, which was all the more reason to try and vote Konan out."

At his admission, TABPP fell silent. Turning his head to look at Sakura sitting on the other side of the fire, Shikamaru met her emerald eyes with his own and could tell from her pensive expression that they were both wondering the same thing. Tonight was unfortunately not the right time to talk to her - with Ino and Deidara's trust in him already shaken - but he made a mental note to find her tomorrow.

After all, if Konan's idol was a fake, then where was the real one?

* * *

 _Day 14 - Taiyou_

"It's so nice to have a day off, dattebayo!"

Sakura let a content smile appear on her lips as she watched Naruto splash about in the water with the other two blondes of the tribe. She couldn't help but agree with his statement - they might've only been on Uzushiogakure for two weeks, but it felt like eons longer, so a day off was much appreciated. They still had the usual reward and immunity challenges coming up in the next couple days, but for now, Sakura was more than happy to bask in the warm sunlight and work on her tan.

"Sakura."

Glancing up and lifting an arm to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun, Sakura patted the sand beside her in an invitation for her tribe mate to sit.

"What's up, Shikamaru?"

"You know there are things we need to discuss," came his reply as he plopped down next to her, leaning back until his head hit the sand.

"Yeah," Sakura agreed as she mimicked his motions and lied down.

They said nothing for the next few minutes, simply content to watch the clouds in the sky. It was a beautiful day. Dimly, Sakura remembered that Kakashi was only a few metres away, lounging on a tree branch with his precious orange book. He would be able to hear everything they were going to discuss, but she saw no harm in it as the truth would eventually come out anyway. Besides, she trusted Kakashi. He was one person who she knew could keep a secret.

Shikamaru didn't seem to mind either (or perhaps he didn't notice?) as he was the one to break the silence.

"I never actually saw Konan find the idol," he began. "Only you did."

Pretending not to hear the subtle accusation in his tone, Sakura shrugged. "That's true. But I honestly thought that was a real idol, too."

"Konan seemed to genuinely think so as well," Shikamaru glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "She was too indignant to have been lying about it."

"I know," Sakura sighed. "I'm confused as well. When I walked in on her finding it, it was even wrapped up in the official 'Congrats! You've Found An Idol' paper."

Her companion was quiet for a moment, and Sakura knew that he was drawing the same conclusion that she had come to the night before.

"You don't think... _Itachi?_ "

"That's exactly what I'm thinking," Sakura's mouth was pressed into a grim line. "If it's not you or me, it's clearly him. It means he very likely has the real idol and planted a fake for Konan to find."

Shikamaru swore under his breath. The implications were troubling. If this was true, then Itachi _knew_ Konan was looking for the idol and he knew that she knew the exact spot to look. That also meant that Itachi _knew_ Konan would find it, and use it to convince Sakura and himself to vote Karin instead of her. What was even scarier was that Itachi still voted with Karin, pretending that he had no clue about what was going on when in reality, he really knew everything. Orchestrated it, even.

He had played them all.

"Itachi is a huge threat," was what Shikamaru said instead.

"Tell me something I don't know," Sakura snorted. "My question is, _how?_ How did he know the exact spot Konan was searching at, and how did he beat her to it without any of us knowing?"

Shikamaru searched his memory from his time on the Brain Tribe. Itachi had seemed so calm after that tribal where Karin was eliminated, and accepted their explanations to him without any trouble. He hadn't thought much of it then, but in hindsight, that alone told Shikamaru that Itachi knew it was coming. How did the man seem to know so many things that were happening when he wasn't physically around to be a part of it? It was almost like he had eyes and ears everywhere, but that wasn't possible as they would've sensed the chakra of any bunshins he made, or was he just that good at concealing his presence?

Somewhere above them in the trees near Kakashi, a bird chirped.

It took all of his ninja training to conceal his shock. Itachi summoned crows, didn't he? And the Brain Tribe's beach had been filled with them! Sitting up and giving the jungle behind them a quick scan, Shikamaru wasn't sure if he was happy or frustrated to note that there were zero crows hanging around. There may not be any crows around their current camp, but he was willing to bet that the current Tsuki beach would be swarming with the damn birds.

"Shikamaru?" Sakura's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "Don't worry, Kakashi can be trusted."

Thankfully for him, Sakura must have mistaken his revelation for him sensing Kakashi's presence.

"I don't know," he chose to say, shaking his head. "But that Uchiha is dangerously smart."

"I know!" Sakura whined in exasperation. "And then he's gonna know that we know as soon as Jiraiya-sama announces that Konan's out in the next challenge."

"...what a drag."

He didn't know what made him lie to Sakura, but Shikamaru knew that he was keeping his newfound intel about Itachi's spying methods to himself for now. It could prove to be useful ammunition in the future.

* * *

 _Day 15 - Reward Challenge_

"Come on in, guys!" Jiraiya waved his arms in welcome. "Tsuki, you're getting your first look at the new Taiyou Tribe - Konan was voted out last tribal council."

Outwardly, Itachi showed no visible response. Inwardly, however, he was displeased at this turn of events. There was no way to ask if Konan had attempted to play the idol, but he had to operate under the assumption that the entire Taiyou Tribe now knew that he was in possession of an immunity idol, and would spread the word to everyone else once the merge arrived. Shikamaru and Sakura were smart, after all, and it wouldn't take them long to realize his deceit.

"Let's get to today's reward challenge," Jiraiya clapped his hands in excitement.

The group of ninja were in the swamps of Uzushiogakure. They were standing on either side of a small clearing surrounded by trees, and in the centre of the space was a moderately-sized circular platform. The most interesting thing to note, however, was that the circular platform was surround by copious amounts of mud.

"Is that... a mud moat?" Temari couldn't help but ask in disbelief.

"Right you are, Temari!" Jiraiya nodded, flashing her a wide grin. "For today's challenge, you will face off against the opposing tribe one-on-one. Standing in the circular platform, you will be holding these large padded pillows."

As he unsealed a scroll, two pillows immediately poofed into Jiraiya's hands. While they were pillows, they seemed fairly solid and each had two handles attached to one side, allowing for a firm grip on the object.

"The aim is to push your opponent off the platform and into the mud," Jiraiya continued his explanation. "You are only allowed to use the pillow - no engaging in taijutsu, no weapons, and your chakra will be sealed for this challenge. The first tribe to win five victories will take the reward."

Unsealing yet another scroll, Jiraiya channelled his chakra into the parchment to reveal what they were playing for.

"Oh my god!" Ino squealed. "Yes, please!"

"We _need_ to win this!" Sakura agreed, sharing a look of longing with her childhood friend.

"No way," Temari interrupted. "You're not gonna get past us!"

Before the squabbling could continue, Jiraiya recaptured the group's attention as he continued speaking. "That's right! The winning tribe for this challenge will walk away with a bottle of shampoo, conditioner and soap! I daresay you'll need it after this challenge..."

Everyone most definitely agreed. While all ninja were used to roughing it out and getting filthy on missions, it only made their appreciation for appropriate hygiene amplify. At this point, they had already spent two weeks without a shower. A proper clean would definitely feel luxurious.

"Tsuki," Jiraiya addressed the tribe of seven. "You've got one extra member, so you're sitting somebody out. Bear in mind it can't be the same person in back-to-back challenges. Who's it gonna be?"

After a few seconds of deliberation, Haku ended up raising his hand to sit out.

"Alright," Jiraiya nodded as Haku took a seat. "I'll give you a moment to decide your line up, and we'll begin."

…

"We now have our match ups!" Jiraiya announced. "It's gonna be interesting – quite a few old rivalries and grudges coming into play…"

There were several competitive looks thrown around between the tribes. Naruto was all but bouncing in anticipation.

"First up, we have Kakashi from Taiyou versus Gai from Tsuki!" Jiraiya beckoned the pair up.

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" Gai bellowed as he leapt onto the platform. "I am very much looking forward to clash youths with you in our six hundredth and seventy-second match!"

All eyes shifted to Kakashi as they awaited his response. However, the Copy-nin wasn't even looking at Gai. Instead, he was searching for his pillow.

"…hm?" He said eventually after he spotted the pillow and picked it up. "Did you say something?"

"Damn it, Kakashi!" Gai fell to his knees, tears of admiration streaming down his face. "You and your hip attitude!"

"A-anyway," Jiraiya cleared his throat. "Let's get started. Ready? Go!"

Wasting no time, Gai sped forward in a green blur towards Kakashi, forcing him to be on the defensive. To his credit, Kakashi successfully blocked Gai's first assault, and followed up with one of his own. The two jonin began trading quick blows – their speed made it difficult for some of the less experienced onlookers to completely follow all of their movements.

It was a close match, but Gai eventually got the upper hand and he sent Kakashi tumbling down into the mud, himself following split seconds after.

"And the first point goes to Tsuki!" Jiraiya declared. "Our next match is Deidara from Taiyou taking on Itachi from Tsuki."

Both ex-Akatsuki nin swiftly hopped onto the platform. While Itachi appeared indifferent as usual, Deidara was glaring daggers at his opponent. It was about time he finally got some payback against the stuck-up prick.

As soon as Jiraiya gave them the signal, Deidara rushed at Itachi. He was feeling confident as this wasn't a typical ninja match – with their chakra sealed, there wouldn't be any funny genjutsu business to look out for, and when it came to brute strength, Deidara was pretty sure he had Itachi beat.

His confidence only grew as he began to push Itachi closer and closer to the edge of the circle with his relentless assault. All he needed to win was one last push. Grinning smugly, Deidara readied his final blow and –

Itachi ducked low under his attack and hit his right leg, forcing him to take a knee. Not giving him any time to recover, Itachi took out his other leg, pushing him to the floor. One final push and Deidara found himself face first in the mud.

Barely registering Jiraiya awarding the second point to Tsuki, Deidara spat out mud and muttered curses at the damn Uchiha as he trudged back to his tribe. Here he was covered head to toe in mud and Itachi was still practically spotless!

"Next up we have Sakura from Taiyou against Temari from Tsuki!" Jiraiya said as the two kunoichi leapt onto the platform and fell into their stances. "Begin!"

Temari immediately charged Sakura, intent on knocking her off balance. Sakura held her ground as she watched the blonde coming closer, readying her body to take the impact.

However, at the very last moment, Sakura pivoted and dodged Temari entirely. Now that her opponent's back was exposed, Sakura gave Temari a strong push. While there was no chakra to enhance her movements, Sakura was still physically stronger than most ninja thanks to her gruelling training with Tsunade.

As Sakura's blow combined with the momentum of Temari's initial attack, there was nothing the poor Suna kunoichi could do as she all but barrelled into the mud.

"And Taiyou scores their first point!" Jiraiya announced, trying to hide the nose bleed he sported upon seeing a mud-covered Temari trying to wipe herself down.

The next match found Naruto and Sasuke pit against each other. Jiraiya didn't even have to tell them to start.

"Naruto," Sasuke spat as he smirk-sneered.

"SASUKEEEEEEEE!" Naruto screamed in response.

The two rivals ran and met each other halfway. They were deadlocked for a few seconds as they pushed, neither willing to give in. A few moments later, they leapt apart simultaneously, only to charge each other again and clash in the middle of the platform. Their faces were mere inches apart, both of them wearing identical glares.

"Oh just fuck already," Ino muttered, causing several snickers to erupt. "Imagine little blonde sharingan-eyed babies eating tomato ramen."

"We're not gay!" They both shouted in sync, as they continued trading blows with each other.

"Could've fooled me," Kisame sniggered, joining in the fun.

Several minutes later, it was clear that the battle wasn't going to end any time soon. Naruto and Sasuke were too evenly matched. Despite their best efforts, neither of them had managed to make any headway on the other.

As Naruto readied himself for yet another blow with Sasuke, he noted his rival's eyes going wide before his entire body froze as he stared at something behind Naruto's shoulder. Not letting this rare opportunity go to waste, Naruto shoved Sasuke into the mud and let out a victory whoop.

It was only after a minute of celebrating that Naruto noticed that no one was paying him any attention. Instead, they were all gaping at something behind him. Even Sasuke wasn't looking at him.

Frowning in confusion, Naruto spun around and noted that the object of everyone's fascination was Sakura. The girl in question had her arms crossed and was sporting a light blush, refusing to meet anyone's gaze.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, causing his female teammate to flush an even brighter shade of red. "What's going on? What happened?"

Seeing that her friend was adamant about staying silent, Ino answered instead.

"Forehead here just flashed her boobs at Sasuke-kun," she snickered.

Whipping his head back to Sasuke, Naruto noticed that his rival was also blushing.

"AHA!" Naruto shouted as he pointed dramatically at Sasuke, startling everyone out of their reverie. "I guess I can't call you Sasu-gay anymore!"

"Shut up, Naru-baka!" Sakura's fist came down on his head. Since when had she joined him on the platform? "I only did it to finish your match quicker and... and everyone's already seen it anyway because of that stupid stunt you pulled last week in that challenge so it makes no difference!"

"W-we are tied!" Jiraiya now had wads of tissue stuck up his nose as Sakura pulled Naruto down from the platform, avoiding eye contact with Sasuke. "Both tribes are at two points – let's start the next match!"

Shikamaru slowly made his way to the platform, dreading his battle. His opponent was Kisame. Friggin' _Hoshigaki_ _Kisame_. How in the world was that fair? Oh that's right, it _wasn't._ But with all the other males wanting to challenge their rivals, he was left with the intimidating shark man.

As he readied his stance opposite Kisame, Shikamaru just hoped that it wouldn't hurt too much.

"Go!"

And poor Shikamaru found himself flying – yes, flying – straight into the mud.

"Tsuki now leads with three points," Jiraiya said, sending a look of pity toward the Nara trying to haul himself up from the mud. "We're playing til five."

Ino and Hanabi stepped up to the platform as the remaining members of each tribe. As soon as Jiraiya said to start, the kunoichi launched into their match.

It was soon obvious that Hanabi had the advantage over Ino when it came to anything taijutsu-related. With a few strategic blocks and thrusts, Ino was dumped into the mud and Hanabi waited to be declared the winner.

However, when that declaration didn't come, all the ninja turned towards Jiraiya curiously and then simultaneously sweat dropped. The self-proclaimed super pervert was giggling uncontrollably as he scribbled into a notepad. He also might have been murmuring about 'research' as he wrote - something about a muddy pillow flight scene...

Upon sensing the growing killing intent from the all females in the area, Jiraiya snapped back to attention. Hastily stowing his writing materials away, the Sannin announced the match.

"The score is now four to Tsuki and two to Taiyou!" he said nervously. "Tsuki only needs one more point to win. Let's bring back Kakashi and Gai."

Well aware that Gai had won their previous bout, Kakashi looked a bit more serious this time. In the end, after trading several blows at high speed, Kakashi won the match by a narrow margin and promptly tuned out Gai's boisterous promises to have a rematch.

"Now we again have Deidara and Itachi," Jiraiya said. "Itachi will be hoping for another win to end this challenge, while Deidara will be aiming to keep his tribe in the running."

Deidara's lips were pressed into a grim line. If he lost to Itachi yet again he'd have to blow something up once he got back to camp. Making sure to stay low and guard his legs this time around, Deidara charged Itachi as soon as Jiraiya gave the go.

Their match lasted about the same length as their previous one. While Deidara was a lot more cautious this time, he was still eventually out-smarted by Itachi and found himself with a face full of mud for the second time in a row.

"And with that, Tsuki wins reward!" Jiraiya declared, his fingers forming the 'V' for victory sign. "Tsuki, enjoy your afternoon getting yourself nice and clean. Taiyou, you'll just have to wash out with good ol' seawater."

* * *

 _Day 15 - Tsuki_

The minute they reached camp, the group of seven immediately dove into their new supplies of shampoo, conditioner and soap. They then proceeded to a nearby stream to get cleaned up.

"Oh god this is heavenly!" Temari exclaimed as she massaged a generous amount of shampoo into her scalp.

"Tell me about it!" Hanabi let out a very un-Hyuuga like squeal. "And it smells amazing!"

While the males of the Tsuki Tribe were no where near as vocal about their gratitude, they certainly felt it as they scrubbed the dirt and grime off their bodies.

After half an hour of revelling in their spoils, the ninja slowly began to rinse away any remaining soap before drying themselves and wandering back to camp.

Eventually, only the two kunoichi on the tribe remained behind. No one questioned it, putting it down to it being a 'girl' thing.

"I don't wanna get up," Temari moaned as she closed her eyes and floated on her back.

"Then let's stay here for a bit longer," Hanabi said as she used her fingers to comb through her wet hair. "We girls can pamper ourselves every now and then."

"I know right!" Temari agreed. "It was hilarious watching the guys trying to contain their excitement over hair care."

Hanabi giggled in response. "Well, thankfully I have you here, then! It would suck to be the only girl surrounded by five smelly males."

That comment earnt Hanabi an amused smile. The kunoichi lapsed into a peaceful silence for the next few minutes, simply enjoying the tranquillity of the moment. They could hear the quiet rush of stream water, the rustling of leaves in the wind, and the occasional caw of a crow somewhere in the trees.

"I mean it though," Hanabi said eventually. "We've been on the same tribe since the first day here and I hate this sentimental bull – but I've really come to appreciate you as a friend."

"Me too," Temari locked eyes with the younger female and offered her a sincere smile. "You're pretty cool."

When her words were only met with a small sigh, Temari frowned. "What's wrong?"

"It's just… I know I'm the next to go if we have to go to tribal," Hanabi said sadly. "And I'm not ready to leave yet. Yes, a big part of it is because I wanna play the game and prove myself to my family, but an equally important reason is because I don't want to leave you and my other new friends so soon."

Temari bit her lip and put a comforting hand on Hanabi's shoulder. After all, it was no secret. Everyone in the Tsuki Tribe except for Gai and Hanabi were in a big alliance. And when it came down to it, everyone preferred to keep Gai instead of Hanabi because he was a beast in challenges.

"Well…" Temari started slowly, an idea coming to mind. "What if it isn't you?"

"Huh?" Hanabi blinked.

"I'm saying, what if we could target someone else?" Temari explained.

"But there's no way the others will vote Gai off," Hanabi sulked.

"Not Gai," Temari shook her head, her eyes gleaming with mischief. "Haku."

Hanabi's eyes went comically wide.

"It makes sense," Temari went on. "To be honest, you've been working your butt off in challenges and around camp for the tribe. Haku hasn't. You've made an effort to make friends with everyone, whereas Haku only sticks to Sasuke. I don't know him, so I don't see myself being able to really play with him. As for you…"

"We'd make a fantastic team," Hanabi finished for her, her voice excited. "If I get Gai on board and you get Kisame, we could vote Haku out!"

"Easier said than done for Kisame, though," Temari frowned. "I'm not sure I can get him to go behind Itachi's back. And I wouldn't want to break Itachi's trust either - he's one scary man to go against."

"Did you know Itachi has an immunity idol?" Hanabi asked suddenly.

The look of shock on Temari's face said it all.

"Don't tell anyone, but I used my byakugan one day in the jungle," Hanabi whispered. "I saw it in his bag."

"No way," Temari gaped.

"I'm dead serious," Hanabi looked her in the eye. "If you need proof, just ask Kisame about it casually and act like you know. I'm sure Itachi's told Sasuke and him."

Temari's brow furrowed. If Hanabi was telling the truth, then it meant that she was at the bottom of the Anti-Konoha Alliance. Deciding to test the waters and ask Kisame first – Itachi wouldn't tell her outright if he had already not chosen to tell her thus far – Temari fixed Hanabi with a serious look.

"Okay, I'll test it out," Temari said, her brows pinching together.

"And when you find out for sure, you'll know that you can trust me all the way," Hanabi replied convincingly.

Extending their hands to each other, the two kunoichi shook hands. They could both tell that their relationship had shifted from being friends to also becoming game allies.

"I'll head back first so we don't raise any suspicions," Temari stated as she stood and made her way back to camp.

Watching as her Suna ally disappeared into the trees, Hanabi allowed a devious grin to appear on her face. That had went so much smoother than she expected. Temari even did most of the work for her!

She had spent the past few days laying the groundwork – pushing herself in challenges, helping out around camp, making friends – doing anything she could possibly do to endear herself. And today, she had finally cracked Temari. Playing the 'fellow kunoichi' card definitely helped. While Hanabi still had the Legacy Advantage, she knew that she couldn't use it as a bargaining chip as it would just make everyone vote her out. Therefore, she had chosen to make use of her connection with Temari instead and show the kunoichi that she'd be a valuable ally to keep, as opposed to Haku whose loyalties lay with other players.

It was time for her to shake things up.

…

Back on the Tsuki beach, Itachi was having a conversation with Kisame at the exact same time the two kunoichi were talking at the stream.

"Kisame," the Uchiha said quietly as they waded into the sea to catch fish. "I have an idol."

As soon he had heard that Taiyou had voted Konan out, Itachi knew that his next course of action would be to inform Kisame about the idol. With Sakura and Shikamaru having figured it out, it wouldn't take long for word to spread. In order to keep Kisame under his thumb, the shark man needed to find out from Itachi himself rather than through the grapevine. If it was going to be inevitable, then Itachi would at least take control of what was still in his power.

"Shit yeah," Kisame grinned at him widely. "Can't say I'm surprised. When did you find it?"

"On the Brain Tribe beach," Itachi said easily. "I think I've kept it to myself for long enough, so I've decided to tell you about it."

"I assume Sasuke knows as well?" It wasn't really a question.

"Yes," Itachi nodded. "If the time comes, we can use it to…"

"Fuck shit up?" Kisame supplied helpfully.

Itachi didn't dignify his comment with a response, but Kisame took his lack of disagreement as a 'yes'.

"That's great news, man," Kisame continued. "Thanks for telling me."

Nodding curtly to his ex-Akatsuki partner, Itachi then followed Kisame's lead in diving underwater to fish for tonight's dinner.

Perhaps he was in too good a mood after using hair conditioner, or maybe Itachi was too busy underwater and plotting his future game moves, but he failed to remember to check in with his crow summons and find out if they had heard anything useful that afternoon.

* * *

 _Day 16 - Immunity Challenge_

"Come on in, guys!" Jiraiya beckoned the group of ninja onto the beach.

It was a beautiful day; there was not a cloud in the sky and the sun's rays reflecting on the crystal clear waters gave the illusion of the sea being filled with shimmery glitter. The temperature was warm, but an occasional light breeze would make the heat bearable.

"Welcome to today's immunity challenge!" Jiraiya grinned. "Today, four members from each tribe will race into the water and swim out for about a hundred metres until you reach those cages."

Pointing towards the water, the contestants noted two separate tall cages. The walls easily extended five metres above the water level.

Seeing their comprehension, Jiraiya continued to explain. "You will then climb into the cage and work together to untie knots to release a giant bag in the shape of a snake. Bear in mind that it is heavy - the entire snake weighs a hundred kilograms."

"The four will then work together to swim the snake back to shore and drag it in front of these tables," Jiraiya now gestured to two tables standing on the beach. "The remaining two tribe members will then cut the snake open, retrieve the puzzle pieces inside, and put together a puzzle. The first tribe to complete the puzzle will win immunity, while the losing tribe will see me at tribal council."

"You have full use of your chakra for this challenge," Jiraiya went on. "However, any attempts to interfere with the opposing tribe's progress will be met with instant disqualification of the challenge. I'll give you a moment to strategize, and we'll get started."

...

"Alright!" Jiraiya shouted. "Running the course for Taiyou is Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura and Deidara, while Shikamaru and Ino take on the puzzle. For Tsuki, it is Kisame, Gai, Sasuke and Itachi retrieving the snake, while Haku and Hanabi tackle the puzzle. Temari is sitting this challenge out."

Noting that the eight ninja running the course were in position and waiting for his cue, Jiraiya announced, "This challenge is now on. GO!"

Springing into action immediately, both groups ran into the water and started to swim as soon as it became deep enough. While Kisame was clearly pulling ahead of the entire pack, the other three ninja from the Tsuki Tribe were still making decent headway over the group from Taiyou.

Using their chakra to swiftly scale the cage wall, the Tsuki members began to work on untying the multiple knots anchoring the snake to the ocean floor. While the water wasn't ridiculously deep, the knots still required the ninja to be fully submerged in order to untie them. Kisame was a definite asset to the team, staying underwater the entire time courtesy of his fusion with Samehada.

To their credit, the four from Taiyou were only a little bit slower than their competitors. However, it was rather discouraging to know that the other team was fairing much better because they had a freakin' shark on their side.

Eventually, Deidara lost his patience - or had a stroke of genius - and sent several clay bombs underwater simultaneously. Signaling his tribe members to be cautious, the bomber made a single handseal and numerous muffled explosions took place, effectively taking out a large number of knots and bringing them up to par with the other tribe. Thankfully, the seawater helped to lessen the impact of the clay bombs and only the knots were destroyed, leaving the snake in one piece.

"You the man!" Naruto cheered as they began to haul the snake out of the water. Then, he made a familiar cross-shaped handseal and dozens of shadow clones popped into existence.

"Come on, guys!" OG Naruto ordered. "Help us get this snake over the wall!"

A loud chorus of 'YOSH!' followed and the snake quickly found itself on the other side of the cage. Dismissing over half of his clones, the remaining bodies then worked together to swim the snake back to shore. While the Naruto clones were a big help, the other members of Taiyou were still definitely pulling their weight: Sakura used her chakra-enhanced strength, and Kakashi and Deidara pulled with all their might.

On the Tsuki side, the process was slower as they didn't have as many hands to help. However, Gai's and Kisame's brutish strength were a huge asset in maneuvering the giant snake. Working themselves to the bone (Gai had even opened the First Gate), the four Tsuki members did their best to ensure they didn't lag too far behind the Taiyou team. It also definitely helped when Kisame fully transformed into a shark and pushed from behind, getting impatient that they were still moving a bit too slow for his liking.

In the end, Taiyou was first to reach the shore. As soon as the snake was hauled in front of the table, Ino and Shikamaru rushed to slice the canvas open with a kunai and began pulling out puzzle pieces. Once they had a sizeable pile of pieces, Shikamaru began analyzing the pieces while Ino doubled back to search the snake thoroughly, making sure that they didn't miss a piece by accident.

It was at the time that Tsuki delivered their snake to the puzzle-solvers. Ripping into the snake, Hanabi's activated byakugan managed to spot all the puzzle pieces, making quick work of gathering their pile to solve. As soon as they had all of their pieces, Haku and Hanabi started to try as many options and fits as possible.

The two tribes had different approaches: Taiyou saw Shikamaru taking the lead, his hands moving rapidly as he pieced the puzzle together while Ino offered her teammate assistance by retrieving the pieces he asked for and fitting in the odd piece every now and then. Their teamwork was flawless, having worked together for well over a decade. For Tsuki, both Haku and Hanabi worked equally, crossing and climbing over each other as they experimented with different pieces of the puzzle in different areas.

Unsurprisingly, Taiyou was the clear winner, completing their puzzle before Tsuki had even gotten halfway through.

"You the puzzle master, Shika!" Naruto yelled triumphantly as he single-handedly lifted the Nara into the air.

"Troublesome Uzumaki," Shikamaru grinned lazily. "But I couldn't have done it so quickly without Ino." He sent a nod in his teammate's direction, receiving a wink from her in return.

"And with that, Taiyou wins immunity!" Jiraiya announced. "Taiyou, enjoy the night off. Tsuki, I will see you at tribal council tonight where one of you will be the sixth person voted out of this game."

* * *

 _Day 16 - Tsuki_

As the tribe of seven trudged back to camp, Temari send a subtle nod towards Hanabi. While she knew that her fellow kunoichi was in danger of going home tonight, she would do her utmost best to make sure it would be Haku instead. It was particularly important to her game to keep Hanabi, as the girl would be completely loyal to her, unlike her current Anti-Konoha Alliance.

She would much rather be in control of her own game with loyal allies, as opposed to being at the bottom of an alliance with zero power. Heck, she was Sabaku no Temari! Her brothers - including the _Kazekage_ \- feared her wrath! Having to bow down to the whims of pig-headed men who viewed her as a lame little kunoichi was more than she could take.

Recalling the conversation she had with Kisame yesterday, she had found out that Hanabi was indeed the one she could trust the most in the game.

 _"Hey," Temari called out to Kisame as she joined in him the water, receiving a friendly grunt of acknowledgement in response._

 _They were on the far side of the beach, far away from the treeline and campsite. A perfect spot to have a private conversation._

 _"So," she lowered her voice as she spoke. "I just found out about the hidden immunity idol."_

 _Watching his expression out of the corner of her eye, Temari noted a lack of surprise on her companion's face. Interesting._

 _Deciding to take a gamble, she became a bit bolder. "Glad to know it's in our alliance."_

 _"Yeah," Kisame said, completely unaware anything was amiss. Then with a chuckle, "Of course of all people it would be Uchiha fucking Itachi who'd find it."_

 _Temari laughed along with him despite the cold feeling spreading through her body. Kisame had just unknowingly confirmed it - she was on the bottom of their alliance._

Shaking her head to come back to the present, Temari supposed that being underestimated as a non-threat had worked to her advantage thus far, and she would use it as much as she could.

...

As soon as the ninja arrived back at camp, the Anti-Konoha Alliance made a very non-discreet call to 'get some firewood' and disappeared into the jungle, leaving Hanabi and Gai on the beach.

Trusting Hanabi to relay their plan to Gai about throwing Haku's name out instead, Temari followed the group of five into the trees without a single glance back.

"Hanabi's going home," Sasuke said bluntly as soon as they had stopped walking.

"Sounds good to me," Temari found herself saying. "Easy vote."

"But what if they happen to have an idol?" Haku spoke up.

"We could split the vote," Kisame shrugged, completely unbothered.

"Yeah, but then it would be three Hanabi, two Gai and two on whoever they choose," Sasuke said, catching on to Haku's concern. "If they play the idol correctly we'd have to re-vote between Gai and one of us."

A short silence followed after his statement, each of the five thinking the exact same thing: they didn't quite trust each other to not turn on them if they found themselves in that position. Ninja were practically raised on paranoia and distrust, after all, especially missing-nin, which the majority of this group had abounding experience in being.

"I might have something to solve that," Haku said suddenly, as if a lightbulb had just gone off over his head. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a slip of paper.

"Steal-A-Vote?" Questioned Kisame. "Is that-?"

"It's exactly what you think it is," Haku nodded. "I received this when I went to Exile, and it allows me to steal anybody's vote for this tribal council. I can only use it tonight."

"So if you use it and take Hanabi's vote..." Temari's eyes were wide.

"...then we could split the vote on them three-to-three," Itachi concluded. "It wouldn't matter who they voted for."

"Exactly," Haku smiled.

"That settles it," Sasuke smirked. "Haku will steal Hanabi's vote and put her name down twice. I'll join him."

"Then Kisame, Temari-chan and myself will vote Gai," Itachi's voice left little room for argument. "When it is revealed as a tie, we all vote Hanabi."

Nodding in agreement, the Anti-Konoha Alliance began to make their trek back to camp as Temari fought down a panic attack.

…

About an hour after they had arrived back at camp, Hanabi found herself gathering her courage and approaching Uchiha Sasuke.

Normally, she would never dream of approaching Sasuke for anything more than what was utterly necessary, but when Temari had told her about the 'Steal-A-Vote' plan, they realized it was necessary to swing two more of the Anti-Konoha Alliance to their side. That way, when Haku took her vote, they'd still have the majority of four versus three votes.

And why _Sasuke_ , of all people? Sasuke, who made it clear that he wasn't at all fond of her? Because their only way of succeeding was to pick two out of three - Itachi, Kisame and Sasuke. And the Uchiha brothers at this stage were practically a 2-in-1 deal, and who the heck would try to sway the older one, so therefore she was stuck having to approach Sasuke.

The plan was for her to sway Sasuke, while Gai was off hunting for materials and Temari was back at camp holding fort with the others. She just had to grit her teeth and do her part.

If this gamble paid off, it would be groundbreaking. If it didn't, then Hanabi would be going home. But if she didn't try, she'd be going home anyway so she might as well try.

"Sasuke-san," she was mindful to keep her tone polite as she approached the broody male.

"What do you want, Hyuuga?" Sasuke's smirk was all arrogance and condescension. "Come to beg for your spot in the game?"

"I never beg, Uchiha," Hanabi hissed, trying to reign in her temper. "I'm here to tell you why it's in _your_ best interest to keep me and vote off Haku."

"Haku." It wasn't even a question as Sasuke raised an unimpressed brow. "You want me to vote out an ally I've had since Day 1."

Sensing that he was very close to leaving, Hanabi hurried through her next words.

"I know about his Steal-A-Vote advantage and his hidden immunity idol."

Sasuke stilled.

 _Bingo._ While Hanabi was well aware (thanks to her bloodline) that Itachi was the only person on this tribe who had an idol, there was no harm in using that knowledge or misinformation to throw Haku under the bus, right?

"I've known about them both since we were put on this tribe," Hanabi said, activating her byakugan for a few seconds to get her point across. "If you don't believe me, then let me say that your brother also has an idol."

"You-"

"-haven't told anybody about Itachi-san's idol," Hanabi cut him off. Damn, it felt good to one-up the arrogant Uchiha.

"I'm just saying, you might've put your trust in Haku, but I'm not sure he's reciprocated it," Hanabi added a nonchalant shrug for good measure.

"I know about his Steal-A-Vote," Sasuke scoffed.

"But I bet he only revealed it today when he needed to," Hanabi rolled her eyes. Temari had told her that, of course, but she wasn't going to add that bit in.

Sasuke just glared death at her.

"He also has the idol from the Beauty Tribe's beach," Hanabi went on, completely unaffected. He had nothing on the Hyuuga elders and their disapproving glares.

Sasuke still said nothing, but his glare had turned a bit more pensive.

"If he's been your ally from Day 1, as you say," her tone was now mocking, "why is it that I've been able to reveal more about him to you than Haku himself? We don't even like each other."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You're trying to say you're better?"

"I'm saying you can trust me to be an honest ally," Hanabi rolled her eyes. "If I'm telling you all of this now, when we're not aligned, imagine what I could do for you when we are?"

Steamrolling ahead before Sasuke could voice his doubts, she continued, "Here's what I propose. You, Itachi-san and Temari switch your votes to Haku. Us dojutsu-users should stick up for each other, after all."

The Uchiha shook his head.

"You know it's in _your_ best interest," Hanabi countered. "If you don't believe me, check for yourself. Discuss it over with your brother."

Turning her back and sauntering off, Hanabi added one last thing.

"I'll give you half an hour to decide. I'll find you when time is up."

Speeding up her strides, Hanabi now focused on locating Gai, who by now had hopefully whipped up a passable fake idol in case they needed to plant it on Haku. Having both seen the idol from their Brawn beach when Naruto had located it early on, they had a good idea of what things they needed to fashion a convincing double. Konoha's Green Beast had thought their plan to sabotage Haku was rather deceitful and unyouthful, but he gave in when he realized that it needed to be done in order to save his ally.

She just hoped that Temari's distraction had given Gai enough space to do his part.

…

Fifteen minutes later and after a quick pow-wow with his aniki, who had told him with a curious gleam in his expression to talk to Haku, Sasuke cornered the ice user.

"Still good with the plan for tonight?" Haku asked him as he sat down.

"Yes," Sasuke said, but his lips were downturned in a frown. He shifted his gaze to Haku and asked, "Do you have an idol?"

"Hm?" Haku looked up in surprise. "No I don't. Why?"

"Just thought one of our former tribe might have found it," Sasuke kept his features blank.

"You don't have it, do you?" Haku asked curiously.

"No."

"Oh," Haku shrugged. "It could either be with Kakashi-sempai, Deidara-san or Ino-san, then."

 _Or maybe no one found it,_ Sasuke found himself hoping.

A loud wail startled the two ninja. Turning their heads to where the sound came from, they found out that it was unsurprisingly Maito Gai.

"HAKU-KUN!" the man sobbed, comical tears falling down his face. "I wanted to arm wrestle with Kisame-kun but he was most unyouthful cheated! I need you to be an impartial and youthful proctor of this match!"

"Cheated my ass!" Came Kisame's retort. "You just can't accept that I'm stronger."

"Haku-kun!" Gai pleaded.

Shooting Sasuke an amused and apologetic look, Haku stood up and strolled over to the arm wrestling match.

Noticing that everyone's attention was focused on the two loud men trying to one-up each other with their arms, Sasuke shifted his gaze to Haku's bag that was sitting within arm's reach of him. The temptation to peek inside it was very high.

Moving himself closer subtly to the bag and checking one last time that no one was watching him, Sasuke deftly reached into the bag for a swift look and froze.

There was an immunity idol necklace in Haku's bag.

Quickly shoving the necklace back in and moving away from the bag, Sasuke was inwardly seething. It was one thing to keep an idol a secret - he couldn't blame Haku for doing that, it was part of the game - but to blatantly lie to his face when he asked? Something about this situation was definitely not right and he was beginning to feel queasy, but Sasuke couldn't ignore the cold, hard proof that he had just seen.

Itachi's words from Day 10 came back into his mind:

 _Looks like someone on your former tribe is a lot more capable than you gave them credit for. You couldn't find the idol because someone else has most likely gotten to it first._

As much as he hated to admit it (and his brain was screaming at him not to), Hanabi was right.

But what was the best thing to do now? Should he continue on with Haku - someone that he thought he had in his pocket from the first day but now he wasn't so sure, or should he go forward with Hanabi, who made it clear she disliked him but was potentially useful? He needed to talk to his aniki again and decide what to do - Itachi always somehow seemed to know what was going on.

The girl in question must've felt his gaze on her - when had he even started staring at her? - and she turned and met his eyes. Raising an eyebrow at him, Sasuke could clearly read what she was expressing to him.

 _Told you so._

* * *

 _Night 16 - Tribal Council_

"Welcome back to tribal council," Jiraiya said once they had taken their seats in the hut. "First things first - how did you guys like your reward?"

"It was amazing!" Temari sighed. "It was so good to be able to wash properly - even the guys were melting although they tried to hide it!"

"It helped to refresh and fan our flames of youth!" Gai added.

"Be that as it may," Jiraiya interjected, "It didn't seem to make any difference in the immunity challenge. Your winning streak was broken earlier today. What happened?"

"Nothing, really," Hanabi said. "No one messed up. Our team might be physically stronger, but the challenge just suited the skills of the other tribe better."

"So continuing on that line of thought," Jiraiya nodded, "Is tonight's vote still about keeping the tribe strong? As I recall, your previous vote for Kurenai was based on that."

"Nah," Kisame spoke up. "It's more of to do with alliances now."

"I see," the Toad Sage acknowledged. "In that case, what are you looking for when you choose your alliance? Haku?"

"I look for people that I can trust and form bonds with," the ice user stated simply, causing Hanabi to scoff quietly.

"Hanabi?" Jiraiya was now looking at the young Hyuuga. "Why the big reaction?"

"I just think it's hypocritical, coming from him," she said, then added, "no offense."

"Oh?" Haku retorted. "Care to explain?"

"The only person you've really made an effort with is Sasuke," Hanabi accused. "You've barely said a single sentence to me or Gai since you've been on this tribe, and I don't even see you hanging out much with the others in your alliance except your dear _Sasuke-kun._ "

"You're just sore because you know you're on the chopping block tonight," Sasuke interjected.

"I'm just stating the facts," Hanabi shot back.

"Woah, woah, woah," Jiraiya held up his hands to halt the impending argument. "So from what I've gathered, there's a majority alliance of five and they're angling for you, Hanabi?"

"Pretty much," the girl in question rolled her eyes. "But there are definitely cracks in the five."

"That's an interesting claim to make," Jiraiya stated. "What makes you say that?"

"There are always cracks in any alliance," Hanabi said, her voice matter-of-fact. "Five people can't all be equally close to each other. There's bound to be an order of who's in power and who's on the bottom, and certain people trusting other people more than others."

"It's cute that you're trying so hard," Sasuke said condescendingly.

"Where do you sit, Gai?" Jiraiya asked the green-clad man. "You seem to be in the minority, but all the heat is on Hanabi."

"I feel anxious," Gai said honestly. "While my youthful prowess keeps me valuable to the tribe, I know that I am next to go if Hanabi is voted off tonight."

"Which is why Hanabi is fighting so hard to stay in the game," Jiraiya concluded correctly.

"Yes," Hanabi agreed. "It's what anyone would do if they're in the bottom and facing elimination."

"So I assume you tried to make a case to some of the majority five?" Jiraiya asked her.

"I definitely had a few private conversations with some of them," Hanabi said vaguely. "All I can do now is hope that I have gotten through to them and the people that I've spoken to can see the value I have to offer them."

Jiraiya nodded at her answer before redirecting his focus to the older Uchiha. "Itachi, you haven't said a word throughout this entire evening. What's your opinion on all of this?"

"The person that I am voting for tonight is someone that I've been wanting out for a while," he intoned simply.

"Alright," Jiraiya said. "With that, I think it's time to vote."

"Wait."

Jiraiya regarded Haku curiously. "Yes, Haku?"

"When I was sent to Exile, I received a 'Steal-A-Vote' advantage," Haku explained as he stood up and approached the Sannin, offering him the piece of parchment. "It allows me to steal someone else's right to vote and vote twice instead."

Nodding as he accepted the slip, Jiraiya confirmed, "This is indeed true. Haku, whose vote do you wish to steal?"

"I'm taking Hanabi's vote," Haku said quietly but determinedly.

"Hanabi, you will not get up to vote," Jiraiya told the Hyuuga who was now glaring daggers at the ice user. "Haku, you will vote twice. Let's get to it."

…

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and would like to play it, now would be the time to do so."

Jiraiya waited several seconds as he observed the group in front of him as he held on to the voting urn that contained tonight's results. There were a few sneaky eye shifts and some fidgeting, but he received no response otherwise.

"Once the votes have been read, the person with the highest number of votes will be asked to leave the tribal council area immediately," he went on. "I'll now read the votes."

Dipping his hand into the urn, he pulled out the first piece of paper and unfolded it.

"First vote: Hanabi."

"Next vote," Jiraiya's hand reached into the urn again. "Gai."

"Third vote: Hanabi," Jiraiya read. "That's two votes for Hanabi, and one for Gai."

"Next vote: Haku."

Haku spared a glance towards Gai out of the corner of his eyes. It was a weak attempt; if Haku were in his position, he would've cast his vote for Hanabi to try and win favor from the majority in the future.

"Haku," Jiraiya announced the next vote, causing the ninja in question to jolt in surprise. "That's two for Hanabi, two for Haku, and one for Gai."

Jiraiya unfolded the next vote. "Haku. One vote left."

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of Haku's stomach.

"Sixth person voted out of Survivor: Ninja Edition," Jiraiya paused for dramatic effect, "Haku."

Shaking his head in disappointment, Haku grabbed his belongings and torch before heading to Jiraiya. He didn't look anyone in the eye once.

"Haku, the tribe has spoken," said Jiraiya solemnly as he snuffed the torch in front of him. "Time for you to go."

Choosing to completely disregard the group of traitors behind him, Haku held his head high and walked right out of the hut. Silence followed his exit.

"Well," Jiraiya sighed eventually, "if that was anything to go by, more than one person just got blindsided. Take your torches and head back to camp; I'm sure you've got a long night ahead of you."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Yey! Hope you guys enjoyed this episode - I definitely had lots of fun writing this one and thinking through each character's motivations and reasoning. Big hugs to everyone who's reviewed, followed and favorited so far, it really makes me soooo happy! PS - anyone here following the new season of Australian Survivor? Long live King Russell. Anyway, til next time! xxx


	7. So Much Sexual Tension

**Previously on Survivor: Ninja Edition...**

After Konan was voted out, Sakura and Shikamaru discovered that Itachi was holding the real immunity idol all along, and Shikamaru further suspected Itachi of using his crow summons as his spies. On the Tsuki Tribe, Hanabi used her byakugan and social skills to form a strong partnership with Temari. When faced with tribal council, the two kunoichi roped in Gai and hatched a plan to get the Uchiha brothers to turn against Haku by planting a fake idol in his bag for Sasuke to find. Their gamble paid off and despite his Steal-A-Vote advantage, Haku was the sixth person voted out in a devastating blindside. 12 ninja remain; who will be voted out tonight?

Ep 6 Votes:

Voted for Gai - Kisame (1)  
Voted for Hanabi - Haku, Haku (2)  
Voted for Haku - Temari, Gai, Itachi, Sasuke (4)

Idols/Advantages:

Naruto - Hidden Immunity Idol (Sakura and Kakashi know)  
Itachi - Hidden Immunity Idol (everyone knows)  
Hanabi - Legacy Advantage (use at 11 or 6; no one knows)  
Unknown (former Beauty Tribe member) - Hidden Immunity Idol

* * *

 **Survivor: Ninja Edition - Ep 7**

So Much Sexual Tension

 _Night 16 - Tsuki_

"What the hell was that?"

Fully expecting that remark from Kisame after blindsiding Haku earlier that night, Itachi beckoned his Anti-Konoha Alliance - if you could still call them that - to a secluded corner of the beach. Understanding that they needed a moment to sort things out, Hanabi and Gai kept to themselves as they tended to the camp fire.

"Well?" Kisame demanded impatiently.

"Haku had a hidden immunity idol and he didn't tell any of us," Sasuke explained. "He even lied to my face when I asked him."

"Oh yeah?" Kisame snorted. "How'd you know he had it in the first place, then?"

"Hanabi's byakugan," Sasuke supplied. He then relayed most of yesterday's events to him - how Hanabi had also known of Itachi's idol but had kept quiet about it, and how she had approached him to turn the vote on Haku instead.

"Basically, we decided that we could trust Hanabi more than Haku," Temari added once Sasuke had fell silent. "I mean, best to get Haku out first if he wasn't willing to share his idol with us. And besides, Hanabi's been more useful around camp and in the challenges than he has."

"It's not that I -" Kisame scratched his head in frustration. "I just don't get why you didn't tell me the change of plans," he confessed. "I would've happily voted Haku out if I knew."

"I apologize, Kisame," Itachi said quietly, as the three other ninja started at him dumbstruck. It was not an everyday occurrence to hear the intimidating man say sorry.

"It's fine," Kisame mumbled eventually. "Just let me in on the plan next time, no matter what."

Itachi nodded his agreement and held out his hand for his Akatsuki partner to shake. Seeing that everything was back to normal, the group began to meander back to camp and prepare to turn in for the night.

Arriving back by the fire, Itachi accepted the sincere 'thanks' that Hanabi expressed to him before lying down in the shelter. Closing his eyes and pretending to be tired, his thoughts were still racing in his head.

He was no fool; he was well aware that Haku was set up by Hanabi, Temari and, to a smaller extent, Gai. His faithful crow summons had seen to that. However, he had let it happen as he had been noticing Haku and his foolish little brother getting closer and closer. Wanting Sasuke's main allegiance to be with him and fearing that he would go with the ice user further down the track, Itachi had zero qualms about voting Haku out. While the two kunoichi of the tribe pairing up was potentially problematic, he at least now knew that the Beauty Tribe's idol was with one of three people - Ino, Deidara or Kakashi.

Not at all concerned about Hanabi still being in the game - all he had to really do once the merge happened would be to let slip that she could see into their bags and she'd be voted out in a heartbeat, _after_ he made use of her and made her tell him who else had which idols, of course - Itachi let himself drift off to sleep.

* * *

 _Day 17 - Taiyou_

"I wonder where we'll have to go today for the reward challenge," Ino wondered absentmindedly as she drank from a freshly picked coconut.

"Dunno," Sakura replied as she mimicked her friend's actions and drank from hers.

Spotting Naruto and Shikamaru returning from their short trip to tree mail (the pair had offered to go there and collect their instructions for today), Sakura waved them over. However, her movements faltered as she noticed Shikamaru's furrowed brows and Naruto's particularly excited grin. While those expressions on these particular males were nothing out of the ordinary, Sakura had never seen a tree mail message excite or worry anyone before.

"Oi!" Naruto yelled out to Kakashi and Deidara, "Gather 'round!"

"We've got troublesome news," Shikamaru added in explanation.

"No, it's exciting!" Naruto argued as he threw his hands up in the air.

"Just tell us already, yeah," Deidara grumbled. "Get on with it."

"We're playing 'Capture The Flag' for our next challenge!" Naruto bounced up and down excitedly. "And the losers go to tribal council tomorrow, while the winners get to sit in and watch them vote someone out."

"What?" Ino exclaimed. Those were high stakes.

"Basically," Shikamaru sighed, "It's a reward and immunity challenge in one. And we need to win."

"When do we start?" Kakashi asked.

"In exactly an hour," Shikamaru continued as he pulled out a red flag from his vest pocket. "This is our tribe flag. We need to guard it against the other tribe and retrieve theirs first."

"Here are the exact rules," Naruto piped in, unrolling the scroll from tree mail. Everyone leaned in to read the words on the paper.

 _Capture The Flag Rules:  
1\. Seize the opposing tribe's flag and guard yours by any means necessary short of lethal force.  
2\. Your tribe flag has to be planted out in the open by your camp fire pit.  
3\. To win, be the first tribe to grab the opposing tribe's flag and pull it out of their fire pit over your head.  
4\. Please extinguish your camp fires prior to the start of this challenge.  
5\. Bonus incentive: if you win with all tribe members still conscious, a feast will also be provided for you as you watch the losers' tribal council. _

"It's a winner-takes-all challenge," Ino summarized after she had finished reading.

Sakura nodded in agreement. "It also seems like a capture and rescue mission," she said thoughtfully. "But also defending at the same time."

"It's like the chunin exams!" Naruto's eyes were shining with anticipation. "Only that we have two groups of three instead of one group of three!"

"Whatever it is, we need to come up with a plan," Deidara interrupted the jinchuriki's math equation.

"I agree," Kakashi added. "We need to decide who's on offense and defense, as well as keep in communication with each other so we can react to any developments."

"I've got the second part covered," Ino smirked as she tapped the side of her head. Then to her teammate, "You're the strategist, Shika. Got any ideas for the first bit?"

"A few."

* * *

 _Day 17 - Capture The Flag_

"Three ninja up ahead," Hanabi whispered as she jumped from tree to tree in the Uzushiogakure jungle.

Gai didn't need to look at her to know she had her byakugan activated. "Who?"

"Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru," she replied. "At their current trajectory, there will be no confrontation."

Sensing her eyes on him, Itachi knew that she was waiting for his orders. After receiving the instructions for their challenge an hour ago, Itachi had been named the leader of their three-man offense squad. Kisame was in-charge of the defense with Sasuke and Temari back at the Tsuki camp.

"Ambush them," Itachi told the young Hyuuga. "But your main priority is to delay them while Gai-senpai and myself push forward. Rejoin us when you can."

Although she looked unsure of herself, Hanabi nodded resolutely and took off towards the opposing trio. Itachi and Gai continued on their path to Taiyou's camp, picking up their pace significantly now that they didn't have to take Hanabi's stamina into consideration.

As he leapt onto the next tree, Gai couldn't help but press his lips into a thin line. While he agreed with Itachi's decision, that didn't mean he liked it. Hanabi was no match for any of the three ninja that she was heading towards in a one-on-one battle, let alone being outnumbered three to one. However, he also knew that Itachi was well aware that her life would not be in danger - the challenge forbid lethal force and those three particular ninja would never purposely harm a fellow Konoha comrade like Hanabi. At worst, Hanabi would be knocked unconscious. Still, Gai couldn't help but feel protective over the young kunoichi that he had come to know over the past couple of weeks.

Itachi was ruthless and intelligent, Gai decided. He would keep a close eye on him in the game from now on.

...

"Incoming!" Sakura alerted her temporary teammates as she sensed a c

hakra signature rapidly approaching.

"How many?" Grunted Naruto as he halted his running.

"One," Sakura frowned. That didn't make sense.

"Are there others in hiding?" Shikamaru asked as he dropped to the jungle floor and braced for the impending confrontation.

A figure suddenly burst out of the dense jungle foliage and barreled towards Shikamaru, forcing him to dodge a series of deadly blows. After he had narrowly avoided getting hit, Shikamaru jumped back as Naruto's form blurred in front of him and started attacking the assailant, forcing them to retreat to a safe range.

"Hanabi?" Sakura didn't bother to conceal her surprise.

"Of all people they sent you by yourself?" Tact was never Naruto's strongest suit.

"I'm more than capable on taking all of you on," came Hanabi's arrogant retort as she narrowed her eyes.

Naruto didn't have a chance to respond as Hanabi resumed her assault on him. However, Shikamaru noticed that while Naruto was dodging her attacks, he seemed unwilling to counter and risk hurting her. Sakura was in a similar state - she held herself in a battle stance as she watched warily, but made no move to join in and overpower the younger kunoichi.

The realization hit Shikamaru.

 _Her job is to stall us!_ He talk-screamed over his tribe's mental connection. _Hanabi is stalling us knowing that we will hesitate to hurt her so that her tribe will win._

As soon as the thought left his head, he saw both Naruto and Sakura straighten up suddenly and team up together against the Hyuuga.

 _We've got two chakra signatures rapidly approaching our camp_ , came Kakashi's voice. _You three need to hurry and get to Tsuki's beach!_

"Sorry, Hanabi-chan," Shikamaru heard Sakura's quiet apology as she broke through the girl's defense and tapped her lightly on the forehead. The effect was immediate and Hanabi crumpled into an unconscious heap on the jungle floor.

"We need to hurry," Shikamaru urged. "The other tribe has just about reached our camp."

"What do we do with her?" Naruto jerked a thumb in Hanabi's direction.

"Leave her," Shikamaru said as he beckoned the pair to start running again. "Leave a couple of clones with her in case she wakes up. But we can't use her as a hostage - everyone knows we can't do real harm to her in the challenge."

As two Naruto clones popped into existence and the trio hit the trees at a brisk pace, Shikamaru registered Ino's voice in his head again.

 _Itachi and Gai are at our camp,_ she informed the group. _No wonder why they got here so quick!_

 _That leaves us to deal with Kisame, Temari and Sasuke,_ concluded Sakura. Exchanging a quick look of determination, the three of them pushed extra chakra into their legs to pick up the pace.

...

As soon as he broke through the treeline in the Taiyou camp, Gai made a beeline towards the red flag. Having removed all his weights, he was exceptionally fast and was hoping to put an end to the challenge before there was a chance to even engage in battle.

Warning bells sounded in his head, forcing him to alter his trajectory as the ground he was previously on exploded a split second after. However, there was no reprieve for Gai as the new spot he had escaped to was now exploding as well, and it was a testament to his superhuman speed that he retreated back to the treeline with only a few singes on his green jumpsuit.

If Itachi was more expressive, he would've been fixing his tribe mate with an exasperated stare.

"Deidara is on this tribe," the Uchiha chose to say instead. "We can be certain that this entire beach has been loaded with explosive mines."

Their answer came in a loud cackle above their heads.

"Art is a bang!" Deidara grinned viciously as he soared through the air on his giant clay bird. His hands were already busy molding new creations.

Idly, Itachi silently commended his opponents' tribe strategy. They certainly hadn't made it easy for them - the entire beach was filled with mines while more explosives were bound to be sent raining down on them from the air. If that wasn't enough, Kakashi and Ino were standing between them and the flag, ready to cut them off if they somehow managed to get past Deidara's defenses. Itachi wasn't sure how the ground mines weren't being triggered by Kakashi and Ino (he suspected something to do with chakra-recognition), but that wasn't his concern at the moment.

A blur of white caught Itachi's attention and he moved out of the way instinctively, a gush of wind telling him that Gai had done the same. The white figures turned out to be homing bombs sent by Deidara. They would have to be on the constant move if they didn't want to get injured. The crazed artist was already churning out another wave of bombs to be sent after them.

Gai must have had the same thought as he once again rushed forward, uncaring of triggering the mines in the sand as he was able to move quicker than they exploded. Not possessing the same speed, Itachi was forced to act as his backup.

Seeing that Gai was having some success in avoiding the bombs, Kakashi surged forward to clash with his peer and halt his progress, leaving Ino to stand guard right in front of the tribe flag.

Not wasting time to watch the two jonin trade blows, Itachi focused on taking Deidara down. To his amusement, it seemed like Deidara had learnt his lesson and was studiously avoiding looking at his eyes and Akatsuki ring in an effort to avoid being trapped in any genjutsu. Instead, the blonde Iwa missing nin's strategy seemed to merely consist of pumping out as many clay explosives as quickly as he could.

As he jumped away from yet another wave of homing clay bombs, Itachi realized with dry humor that the Taiyou members weren't fighting to win - they knew that Tsuki possessed physically stronger fighters overall. No, they were fighting to wear himself and Gai out and slow them down, hopefully giving their other tribe mates a chance to seize the flag first.

While Gai was not likely to tire any time soon, Itachi knew that it wouldn't be the same for him. He had to come up with a way to deal with Deidara, or else he would be going back to tribal council again tomorrow.

...

The attacking trio of Taiyou arrived on their opponents' beach only to find it completely obscured in thick mist.

"Stupid Kirigakure no Jutsu," Naruto muttered. Then silently he added via mind link, _at least we can keep in contact like this._

 _Naruto,_ came Shikamaru's voice. _Use a wind jutsu to disperse some of this mist so we can see where the flag is._

Immediately, Naruto made a series of handseals and blew out a gust of wind. While it wasn't enough to get rid of all the mist, it was sufficient for them to get their bearing on the layout of the Tsuki camp.

Springing into action, the Taiyou members lunged towards the flag, only to be halted by the Tsuki members on defense duty.

"You're not taking a step further," came Kisame's voice from somewhere inside the mist.

"Like hell I'm not!" Naruto grinned mischievously and took many steps forward, disappearing into the mist. The sounds of battle began to reach their ears, telling them that Naruto had found the blue shark man.

 _Remember the plan_ , Sakura told her male teammates. _Naruto takes Kisame, Shika takes Temari, and I'll take on Sasuke._

A huge gust of wind hit them right then, forcing Shikamaru and Sakura to separate unless they wanted to stay and be cut multiple times. Not sparing his tribe mate a glace, Shikamaru charged in the direction that the wind had come from, intent on engaging Temari.

"Sakura."

Fighting the pleasant chill that his voice gave her, Sakura turned around to face her childhood crush. She kept her expression and stance deliberately casual.

"Sasuke-kun", she greeted softly.

"I'm rather insulted that I get you as an opponent."

Coming from anyone else, Sakura would say that it was an obvious attempt to rile her up. However, from Sasuke, it sounded factual, as if he was stating that the sky was blue and that they were playing Survivor.

Sakura's lips dipped into a small frown. "I'm not the same weak girl you once knew," she whispered.

That was all the warning she gave before she vanished into a blur and attacked.

...

"So much sexual tension, eh?" Kisame chuckled as he swung Samehada at his target.

"Why does everyone keep hinting that I'm gay?" Naruto's voice was deeper and rougher due to the Kyuubi cloak that surrounded him, but it was clear that he was whining.

"I meant the other two fights, not ours," Kisame rolled his eyes. Then, with a grin, "are you?"

"NO!" Naruto shouted and aimed a deadly swipe at the shark man.

Unlike their previous life-or-death battles where Kisame would be trying to capture the Kyuubi, there was little killing intent involved this time around from both parties. Their short time together on the Brawn Tribe had forged a bond between them; not as far as friendship, but there was definitely mutual respect for each other's skills.

Thanks to the wind from Temari's fan attacks, most of the mist surrounding the Tsuki beach had dispersed within the first few minutes of battle. Sparing a precious few seconds to glance at the other fights going on, Naruto had to concur with Kisame's statement. Shikamaru and Temari's battle looked more like a weird mating ritual dance involving shadows and wind, while Sasuke and Sakura...

Naruto felt his stomach drop slightly as he noticed his original team's battle. While Sakura was strong, Sasuke was still obviously stronger. However, Sakura didn't look at all injured and the answer to that became clear when Naruto began to notice openings that Sasuke could have taken to attack, but chose not to. Instead, his rival was lingering a second too long each time he clashed with Sakura, his eyes lit up with - with _what_ , exactly? It almost looked like pride and... affection? Sakura, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to the looks she was receiving - she was leaving herself open on purpose, and getting frustrated when it became clear that Sasuke was holding back.

A shift in the air snapped Naruto back to his own fight with Kisame, and he narrowly avoided having his arm shaved off by Samehada. He would sort out his feelings about his suspicions after the challenge. For now, he had to make sure his tribe won.

...

Itachi held back a sigh as he dodged yet another homing bomb from Deidara, who was still airborne. Gai was still engaged in battle with Kakashi, shouting out proverbs to do with youth and eternal rivalry.

He was wasting time and he knew it - in a real battle, the Tsuki Tribe would romp Taiyou, no questions asked. However, with lethal force being prohibited (for good reasons), Itachi knew that he wasn't going to go all _Mangekyo Sharingan!_ for this challenge. After all, while tsukiyomi didn't actually kill someone, it would still maim them for life and he was pretty certain that amaterasu would also burn up the flag he was supposed to retrieve. And susanoo...

Itachi would've stilled if it wasn't for the fresh wave of explosives that were being dropped on him overhead. He could technically go 'fuck it' and susanoo his way into the heart of the camp and win the challenge for his tribe all in under five seconds. It would be painful and strain his eyes, but doing so would guarantee victory.

However, Itachi was hardly one to just go 'fuck it'.

If he won this challenge for his tribe, judging from the six on Taiyou, Deidara would be the prime candidate for elimination. While he and the explosives expert were never on good terms, Deidara was still a number that he could definitely pull in and use once the merge happened. After all, from what Sasuke had told him, Deidara was only successful in aligning himself with Ino, and with only twelve left in the game, the merge had to be coming soon.

On the other hand, if he took his time to play explosive tag in this challenge long enough, the other tribe could win and send his to tribal council. Where his alliance was in control. While Hanabi and Temari might've buddied up, he knew Temari was smart enough to know not to leave a majority alliance that had an immunity idol only to make it a risky three-on-three tie vote. Getting rid of either Gai or Hanabi would give him an edge in the merge in terms of numbers.

As he was always one to play the long game, Itachi readied himself to just keep on dodging explosives - he vaguely registered Deidara's frustrated yell of "Take me seriously, you damn Uchiha!" - and hoped that Kakashi could keep Gai at bay long enough to send him back to tribal council.

...

"You're not fighting me properly," Sakura frowned as she and Sasuke met in a clash of kunai.

Unsurprisingly, her former teammate didn't offer her a reply as he executed a series of taijutsu strikes that forced her onto the defensive.

As she leaned to her left to avoid the punch coming towards her, Sakura couldn't help but widen her eyes as she spotted Shikamaru knocking Temari unconscious in the distance and making a beeline towards the yellow flag.

Realizing her mistake as Sasuke narrowed his eyes in response and began to maneuver himself to look behind him, Sakura rushed him in a panic, hoping that it would read as desperation instead.

"Do you think I'm weak?!" Sakura cried as she all but flung herself towards Sasuke in a very Naruto-like manner.

She wasn't surprised or disappointed when Sasuke easily caught her fist and flipped her onto her back. After all, her goal was to distract Sasuke just long enough for Shikamaru to grab the flag, and that charge was full of openings.

Sakura was about to sit up and aim another swipe when Sasuke joined her on the sand, pinning her down in a standard hold with his body weight. Glaring daggers at the raven-haired man - did he really think that she could be held down with such an elementary pin? - Sakura jerked her hips and applied strength to her limbs as she prepared to break out of the hold she was stuck in.

What she wasn't prepared for, however, was for her actions to cause Sasuke's eyes to darken with desire as he flicked his gaze down to her lips.

Confusion clouded her mind and the chakra she was moulding into her arms dissipated. She stared up at Sasuke, transfixed, as he stared right back at her, their faces mere inches apart.

A loud bang echoed throughout the beach, ending the moment between the pair before it really began. Sitting up to see what had happened - she hadn't even noticed when Sasuke released her - Sakura smiled triumphantly as the figure of Shikamaru holding the Tsuki flag high over his head came into view. A closer look revealed that the source of the sound came from a reverse-summon calling Jiraiya to the beach. It must've been activated once Shikamaru touched the flag.

Giving a yelp of joy, Sakura rushed towards her tribe mate to celebrate as Naruto did the same, the episode between her and Sasuke completely forgotten for the moment.

"Taiyou wins immunity, sending Tsuki to tribal council!" Jiraiya declared, grinning at the celebrating trio. "Taiyou will also enjoy a feast while they listen in as all their members are still conscious!"

Adopting a more serious tone for the next sentence, the Sannin continued, "As the sun is already beginning to set, tribal council will be held tomorrow night. Taiyou, enjoy your time off. Tsuki, you will have until then to decide who goes home."

* * *

 _Day 18 - Tsuki_

Temari sat up in the shelter, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she gave a loud yawn. A quick glance around her revealed that barring Kisame, she was the last tribe member to wake up for today.

Releasing a silent snort as Kisame grunted something unintelligible and rolled over in his sleep, Temari couldn't help but envy him. After all, while he and most likely the Uchiha brothers slept soundly last night, she could safely say that the other half of the tribe did not. She definitely felt as if she hadn't slept at all.

When they had arrived back at camp last night after losing the challenge, Itachi had gathered his Anti-Konoha Alliance. It was quickly agreed that they would keep things simple and vote either Hanabi or Gai out - there was no danger of them having any idols as they were scrambling too desperately last time to save Hanabi. As for making the choice of who went home between the two, Sasuke had just shrugged and said they'd decide tomorrow after getting some rest.

The arrogance in that statement had irked Temari to no end. Truth be told, she would very much rather side with Hanabi and Gai, but what good would that do? If she jumped ship, that would only result in a tie vote and the threat of Itachi's immunity idol also weighed in her mind.

It was definitely the better move to stick with the current majority alliance, Temari decided, even if she didn't particularly like who she was working with. While she had been on good terms with Kisame since Day 1, it was more of a partnership of convenience than a solid trust relationship. They both had other people they were much closer to in the game. At the same time, Itachi still scared her shitless sometimes, and while she had initially thought Sasuke to be handsome when they had first met at the Konoha chunin exams, his prickly attitude had deterred her from communicating with him unless necessary.

She was startled out of her thoughts when the older Uchiha appeared seemingly out of nowhere and delivered a swift (but harmless) kick to Kisame.

"Go away, Uchiha," Kisame mumbled, curling away from his Akatsuki partner.

"It's time to wake up, Kisame," Itachi's tone held no room for arguments, but his eyes held an amused glint. "We need to decide who we'll vote out tonight."

Grudgingly, the massive shark nin hauled himself up to a sitting position just as Sasuke joined the group in the shelter.

"I think we should eliminate Hanabi," Sasuke jerked a thumb toward the sea where Gai and the girl in question were wading in the water.

"Makes sense, I guess," Kisame said, more alert than he was seconds ago. "Gai is all brawn and no brains. Hanabi, on the other hand, is a lot more dangerous to keep around 'cuz you never know what schemes she might be planning."

"And Gai is a lot better in challenges," Sasuke added.

"But that's precisely why we should vote Gai instead," Temari found herself blurting out.

Nervous when all three of the notorious missing-nin looked at her questioningly, Temari forced herself to appear detached and logical. Yes, she was trying to save Hanabi over Gai for her own personal game, but they definitely didn't need to know that.

"The merge will be coming soon," she explained. "That's precisely when you _don't_ want someone like Gai around anymore. With his freaky endurance, speed, strength and mindset, he could very well go on an immunity winning streak."

"I'm not too worried about that," Kisame said after some thought. "As long as I'm around, I don't think Gai could hog all the challenge wins post-merge."

"Don't forget there's also Naruto." It looked like it took all of Sasuke's effort to admit that.

"But Gai is just gonna be an obvious number for the other tribe," Temari insisted. "The first chance he gets, he'll hop over to the other tribe. He won't work with us, whereas Hanabi will."

"What makes you so sure?" Sasuke asked.

"She's already worked with us on the previous vote, while Gai just followed her lead," Temari said in an even tone. "She also doesn't have anyone on the other tribe that she's close to, so she'll stick with us for sure if we save her this time. Gai, on the other hand, is practically guaranteed to run right into Kakashi's alliance and you know it."

"That's kinda true, actually," Kisame admitted. "But I'm still not a hundred percent sure about Hanabi not backstabbing us down the line."

The three of them looked towards Itachi for his input, as he had been silent for the whole conversation. While none of them had explicitly said it before, Itachi was definitely the leader of their alliance.

"We will hear what they have to say," Itachi's voice was firm but not unkind. "We will take the information they give us into account and then make our choice."

...

Gai looked up from where he was squatting by the fire as he felt Hanabi approach. Giving her a friendly smile, he patted the sand to his left in an invitation to sit.

"How was it?" Gai asked as he added an extra log into the fire.

"It went as well as I could hope for," Hanabi sighed as she plopped down next to him.

The pair sat in silence for the next few minutes as they stared at the flickering flames, each lost in their thoughts. They both knew that it was either of them on the chopping block for tonight - it was pointless for Temari to do anything against her alliance, and it was impossible to sway the other three to do otherwise. Therefore, they had jumped at the chance when Itachi had approached them individually to let them make their case. Gai had gone first, and Hanabi had just returned from hers.

Suddenly, Gai extended his hand towards Hanabi.

"Whatever decision they make tonight, it has been wonderful playing with you," Gai smiled at the young Hyuuga. "My wish is for both of us to keep our flames of youth burning, regardless of the outcome."

Searching his face for signs of deception and finding none, Hanabi grasped his hand with her own and gave a firm shake.

"You're a good man, Gai-san," Hanabi told him sincerely. "You might be the only person in this entire game who hasn't told a lie or wished harm on others."

Seeing that her words had caused the spandex-clad man to start tearing up, Hanabi quickly released his hand and attempted to put some distance between them, but it was no good.

"HANABI-CHAN!" Gai cried tears of happiness as he summoned his unintentional genjutsu of rainbow youth and happiness.

Not quick enough to dodge him, Hanabi found herself trapped in a big bear hug. While she would've normally juken-ed anyone who tried to touch her like that into oblivion, Hanabi supposed she could make an exception this one time. Forcing a small smile onto her face, she patted the older ninja's back awkwardly and waited for him to calm down.

After a good minute of sniffling, Gai finally let go and stood up to his feet, pulling her along with him. It was time to head to tribal council.

* * *

 _Night 18 - Tribal Council_

The six from Taiyou were already seated and busy devouring their provided feast as the Tsuki members walked into the tribal council hut.

"Welcome to tribal council, everyone," Jiraiya grinned as he noticed the Tsuki tribe do their utmost best to keep the pining looks off their faces as the other tribe happily munched on their food.

"Let's get right into it," the toad sage rubbed his hands together. "Tsuki, you were here in tribal not too long ago, and if I recall correctly, there seemed to be a majority alliance?"

At their nods, Jiraiya continued. "Is it right to assume that the alliance is sticking together? Kisame?"

"That's right," the shark man supplied. "It's a tight group, so I feel pretty darn safe tonight."

"Oh?" That caught Jiraiya's interest. "Who else besides Kisame feels safe tonight?"

There was a moment of hesitation before the Uchiha brothers raised their hands simultaneously. Seeing their actions, Temari quickly raised her hand as well, wanting to give them the impression that she trusted them fully.

"I see," Jiraiya nodded in acknowledgement. "Gai and Hanabi - I noticed your hands didn't go up. Does this mean that the two of you are the minority that are in danger for tonight?"

"Yes," Hanabi said slowly, unwilling to give too much information with the Taiyou members listening in. However, she supposed it couldn't be helped. "It was made clear as soon as we lost the challenge that it was going to be Gai or myself going home."

Seeing Gai nod in agreement, Jiraiya continued, "So what did the two of you do about it? Were there any other plans made or conversations to be had?"

"Look, we could've tried to flip two of them onto our side," Hanabi admitted, "but take a look at these four and tell me honestly if you think that would ever work."

At everyone's silence, Gai chuckled and added, "but we did get the chance to make our case of why we should stay."

"Meaning that it's a question of why the tribe should keep you instead of Hanabi, or vice versa," Jiraiya clarified.

"Exactly," Gai replied. "And while it pains the both of us to do this, we will have to be writing each other's name down tonight."

"Since this is the case, I'll give each of you a final chance to sway the tribe into letting you stay," Jiraiya decided. "Let's have ladies first. Hanabi - why should the tribe keep you in this game after tonight?"

"I have proven that I can be a useful and trustworthy ally," Hanabi stated, locking eyes with Sasuke. Then towards Temari and Kisame, "I have taken the proper time to get to know you as people, and feel like we can work together well from here on out. My hope is to leave this tribal tonight together with you and be a more united tribe."

"Well said," Jiraiya smiled. "What about you, Gai? State your final case."

"With me, what you see is what you get," Gai's response earned him a few chuckles. "I play this game honestly and fairly with nothing to hide, and my youthful energy has only been an asset to this tribe. I believe that keeping someone like me is the best option for both the tribe and your individual long term goals."

"Wonderful," Jiraiya inclined his head towards Gai. "With that, let's get to the vote."

...

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and would like to play it, now would be the time to do so," Jiraiya announced as he clutched the voting urn tightly in his hands.

Glancing around the hut, the toad sage waited patiently for any indication that someone was going stand up and address him. When nothing of the sort happened, he nodded and opened the lid of the voting urn.

"Once the votes have been read, the person with the highest number of votes will be asked to leave the tribal council area immediately," he declared, unfolding the first slip of paper. "First vote: Gai."

Reaching back into the urn, he pulled out the next parchment. "Hanabi."

The two ninja in question locked gazes with each other, both of them giving the other a small, reassuring smile. Whatever happened tonight, they had tried their hardest and would continue with no regrets.

"Third vote: Gai."

Closing his eyes in acceptance, Gai nodded to himself and steeled his nerves against what was to come.

"Next vote: Gai," Jiraiya read. "That's one for Hanabi, and three votes for Gai."

Dipping his hand back into the urn, Jiraiya unfolded another piece of parchment and paused dramatically.

"Seventh person voted out of Survivor: Ninja Edition - Gai; that's four votes, so it's enough," Jiraiya declared somberly. No one was particularly glad to see Konoha's Green Beast get voted out - he was well liked by everyone.

Grabbing his torch and placing it before Jiraiya, Gai heard the famous "the tribe has spoken" line uttered and watched his torch get snuffed.

Turning back to all the remaining players in the game, Gai held his thumb up in his signature 'nice guy' pose. He chortled in good nature and beamed at the entire room.

"May your flames of youth remain ever so bright!" Gai told them, his booming voice echoing throughout the hut. Then, setting his sights on the exit path, and to the amusement of many, he ran off screaming, "YOUUUUTH!"

"The guy sure knows how to make an exit," Jiraiya winked. "Taiyou, I hope this session has been informative for you. Tsuki, only time will tell if you walk out of here a stronger tribe as a result of tonight's vote. Get some rest all of you, and good night."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Thank you all for reading! Yes in case you were wondering - there have been some SasuSaku moments throughout this series. While I'm not a personal fan of the pairing and this isn't a romance story (I actually like ItaSaku and KakaSaku), I want to stay true to the relationships formed in canon and see how the characters develop from there when put into Survivor. This wasn't the most flashy episode, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. And yes, it really pained me to have to cull Gai from the game! But alas, there will be plenty more painful eliminations in the future - it's Survivor, after all. Also, reviews, favs and follows are always much appreciated ;)


	8. I Got Lost On The Road Of Life

**Previously on Survivor: Ninja Edition...**

The castaways were surprised with a Capture The Flag challenge, where the winning tribe would get to sit in on the losers' tribal council. During the challenge, Kisame and Naruto noticed Sasuke's growing attraction to Sakura, and unbeknownst to his tribe, Itachi chose to throw the challenge. As the members of Tsuki were faced with another tribal council, it was a toss up between eliminating Hanabi or Gai. Eventually, the tribe chose to keep Hanabi, resulting in Gai being the seventh person voted out of the game. 11 remain; who will be voted out tonight?

Ep 7 Votes:

Voted for Gai - Itachi, Sasuke, Kisame, Temari, Hanabi (5)  
Voted for Hanabi - Gai (1)

Idols/Advantages:

Naruto - Hidden Immunity Idol (Sakura and Kakashi know)  
Itachi - Hidden Immunity Idol (everyone knows)  
Hanabi - Legacy Advantage (use at 11 or 6; no one knows)  
Unknown (former Beauty Tribe member) - Hidden Immunity Idol

* * *

 **Survivor: Ninja Edition - Ep 8**

I Got Lost On The Road Of Life

 _Day 19 - Taiyou_

Ino woke to the sounds of splashing water in the distance. Groggily, she opened her eyes to note that Kakashi and Sakura were just finishing their morning swim in the ocean. There were no surprises there - they both were the early risers of their tribe. Glancing briefly around her, she again was not surprised to see a snoring Naruto, and a conscious but lounging Shikamaru.

Sitting up slowly, her movements stirred her cuddle buddy from his sleep.

"Mornin', princess," Deidara grinned sleepily.

Ino winked at him in response and reached towards her water canteen. It was a hot day, and staying hydrated was important for good skin care. A small groan escaped her lips when she noticed the bottle was empty, and she moved to stand up.

The rustling behind her informed Ino that Deidara was following her.

"I'll come with, yeah," he muttered, his voice husky from sleep. "I'm parched."

Nodding her agreement and picking up the water canteens of her remaining tribe mates - she could be nice every once in a while - Ino led the way to the water well with Deidara right by her side.

"What do you make of watching Tsuki's tribal last night?" Ino asked her companion once they were safely out of earshot.

"It was good to find out who was aligned with who," Deidara shrugged. "I think they made the right choice for them in getting rid of Gai."

Ino nodded in agreement as the water well came into sight. "Gai would've definitely joined the Team 7 alliance once the merge came around."

"What'll happen during the merge, though?" Deidara wondered as he filled his canteen. "Team 7 will stick together for sure, as well as those four and maybe Hanabi."

"I can't quite see Shika joining up with that group, so I think he'll likely go with Team 7," Ino reasoned out. "He's worked with them several times already in this game, after all. And he wouldn't trust Itachi after the fake idol stunt he pulled on the Brain Tribe."

"What about Sasuke, hn?" Deidara added. "Would he be torn between his brother and Team 7?"

Their discussion was cut short by the sounds of rapid footsteps approaching them. Turning their heads to spot the intruder, it turned out to be Sakura. Clutching a piece of parchment in her hands, she jogged right up to the blonde pair.

"There you are!" She said, giving no indication that she was aware of their conversation. It wasn't rare for them to be seen together, after all. "We just got a note in tree mail telling us to make room for more in our camp!"

Ino and Deidara stared at each other with wide eyes. Did this mean...?

Without any more words exchanged, the three ninja grabbed the water canteens and hurried back to their tribe grounds. They arrived just in time to spot a medium sized boat making its way to their shore, with Jiraiya steering at the helm and the Tsuki members sitting behind him as they clutched their meager belongings in their laps.

As soon as the boat reached the sand, Jiraiya jumped onto the beach and indicated for the Tsuki tribe to do the same.

"Congratulations!" The toad sage cried jubilantly. "You are now merged! The eleven of you will make camp on this beach for the rest of your time here. You will have the rest of the day off to get settled in and acquainted with each other."

Reaching into his pants pocket, Jiraiya unrolled a large sealing scroll and channeled his chakra into it. Doing so caused a large wooden table filled with an impressive assortment of food and beverages to appear on the beach. There were pastries, fresh fruit, all sorts of meats, desserts and even sake in the mix. At the foot of the table was a new piece of black colored cloth and several paints and tools for them to design their new merged tribe flag.

"Enjoy!" Jiraiya beamed at the drooling ninja as he hopped back into the boat and sped off along the waves and into the distance.

A loud collective cheer filled the beach as all eleven castaways dashed forward to the table and began helping themselves to the generous feast.

...

It didn't take long for all the food to be devoured and the sake to make its rounds. After fifteen minutes, the ninja began to break into smaller groups from their previous communal positions around the table, intent on catching up with old friends or tribe mates.

Deidara and Kisame, having hogged most of the sake, were fairly intoxicated, while a bemused Itachi hovered over them like a mother hen. Temari engaged Shikamaru in flirty banter while Ino and Hanabi listened on in amusement as they worked on painting the new tribe flag. That left the four original members of Team 7 to hold their long awaited reunion.

"Teme."

"Dead-last."

Sakura shook her head in exasperation as she and her ex-sensei observed Naruto and Sasuke engaging each other in their typical staring match. Sasuke had his arms crossed, an arrogant smirk fixed on his face while Naruto had his fists clenched by his sides and his teeth bared. During their genin days, Sakura could only watch helplessly as she was left ignored and Kakashi was usually nowhere to be found. However, she had come a long way since then.

Stepping between the two rivals, Sakura took both boys by surprise when she grabbed them by the front of their clothes and casually flipped them down onto the sand, as if they each weighed no more than a feather.

When she was met by their gaping expressions (even Kakashi seemed lost for words), Sakura shrugged and stuck her tongue out at them.

"I got bored waiting while you just stared into each others' eyes," she explained. "There are much more efficient ways to communicate, you know."

"I find that using your vocabulary helps," Kakashi offered innocently.

Scowling as he scrambled back up to his feet, Naruto addressed his former teammate/best friend/rival/enemy.

"So, teme, you gonna finally join us again or what?" Naruto had a competitive grin on his face as he extended his right hand towards Sasuke.

"Hn," Sasuke scoffed as he ignored the offered hand and stood up on his own in one smooth motion. "It's too late for that, dobe."

Naruto refused to move his hand from its outstretched position, but his grin got even wider. "That's bullshit and you know it. You sure about that? Even after all we've been through?"

When the only answer he got was silence, Naruto set determined eyes on Sasuke.

"Then I hope you're ready to get your ass kicked again and again."

"You're on," Sasuke smirked, and finally grasped Naruto's hand in his own and gave it a firm shake. "But you'll be the one getting your ass handed to you."

Without letting go of Naruto - it seemed both males were now subtly trying to crush each other's hand - Sasuke nodded towards the two remaining members of his former team. "Kakashi," he acknowledged respectfully, before his gaze softened slightly when addressing the sole female on Team 7. "Sakura."

"Game on, Sasuke," she replied stonily, satisfied to note how his eyes darkened at the lack of the usual suffix at the end of his name.

Wrenching his hand out of Naruto's, Sasuke turned his back on the trio and strode off towards his older brother. Noticing Naruto's crestfallen expression as he turned back towards his team, Kakashi began to offer a few words of comfort.

"Maa, it's still early days, Naruto," Kakashi said. "Things change all the time in this game, so-"

"It was a long shot to begin with," Sakura cut him off, her voice as hard as steel. "I don't know why we hoped it would be any different this time around, but we can't be lenient on him anymore."

"But Sakura-chan," Naruto protested. "We-"

"No more excuses," she ordered. "We've made enough for him already. He's in it to play and win; if we don't do the same because we're too caught up in being nice, we'll be sent packing. Enough is enough."

Not sticking around to give Naruto another chance to plead with her or Kakashi, Sakura turned back towards the table and stalked towards the group painting the new tribe flag.

...

Shikamaru was actually having a pleasant time conversing with the three kunoichi until Sakura stormed up to them in a huff and was practically radiating murder.

Exchanging a quick look with Ino, the blonde nodded imperceptibly and made a flamboyant show of pulling the grumpy pinkette away lest she scare off Temari or Hanabi from forming any potential alliances with their former Taiyou Tribe. However, it became apparent that he had given the remaining two females too little credit.

"I can completely relate," Hanabi said, her voice carefully lowered. "Talking to Sasuke makes me want to kill something every time."

When Temari only smirked in response, Shikamaru grew equal amounts of curious, hopeful and suspicious.

"Oh really?" he drawled, adding some red to the black cloth in front of him. "Seemed to me like you five were all one big happy family when we watched your tribal council."

Sneaking a discreet glance in Itachi's direction and finding him preoccupied with a drunk Deidara challenging him to a duel, Temari shook her head.

"Not at all," she told Shikamaru. "Hanabi and I are tight with each other, but we had no choice but to go along with whatever that group wanted."

"They had the numbers, not to mention an idol," Hanabi added in explanation. "Kisame and Sasuke are also unwavering in their loyalty to Itachi."

"Feh," Shikamaru scoffed in amusement. He then casually said, "Sounds like the Team 7 trio to me."

"Duh," Temari rolled her eyes. "You'd have to be blind, deaf and dumb to not notice that."

"Where does that leave the two of you, then?" Shikamaru inquired.

The kunoichi shared a pointed glance before Hanabi replied. "With the highest bidder. What about you and Ino?"

"With the least troublesome bidder," he retorted, his comment earning him a round of soft laughter.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence after that, content to spend the next few minutes decorating the tribe flag. However, Shikamaru was inwardly troubled.

He could already see two main alliances emerging. First was the Akatsuki alliance consisting of Itachi, Kisame and Sasuke, and if he was a betting man he'd go all in that Deidara would be joining those ranks. On the other side was the Team 7 alliance with Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi. That left himself, Ino, Temari and Hanabi as floaters, or the potential to join up and become a third major alliance.

It wasn't that simple, though. While he knew Ino and Deidara were a power couple, he wasn't so sure if she would jump on board with the Akatsuki. Similarly, he could say the same about her relationship or friendly rivalry with Sakura. Additionally, Temari and Hanabi were even bigger question marks. Yes, they had all but admitted that they would be willing to flip on their former tribe, but it was a classic dilemma of 'better the devil you know versus the one you don't'.

The fact was, no matter which side the floaters might jump onto - Akatsuki or Team 7 - they would always be on the bottom. There was no way to say to Itachi, "hey dude, take me to the end instead of your foolish little brother" or tell Naruto, "oi, I think I'd make a more precious person than your already most precious people". Then there was the additional headache of the high chance that the four floaters would be divided in their choice of which side to join.

Following that line of thought, it might simply be better to gather the three remaining kunoichi and form a third alliance. If he chose to go that route, however, he'd have to take utmost discretion as doing so could run the risk of Akatsuki _and_ Team 7 joining together to come after them first. He'd have to be especially wary if his theory about Itachi's spying crows was accurate.

Chancing a quick glance in the older Uchiha's direction, Shikamaru was slightly amused to find that Itachi now had both Kisame and Deidara asking him for arm wrestling matches at the same time, stumbling over each other in their drunkenness. Itachi was obviously too preoccupied at the moment to set up his summons, but Shikamaru would be on the lookout for the first flash of black feathers in the jungle treetops.

* * *

 _Day 20 - Immunity Challenge_

The first thing that the newly merged group of shinobi noticed when they stepped onto the beach was that there were eleven pairs of small wooden poles sticking out from the sand. Each pair of poles were painted a different color, and all of them stood over five meters high. There were no visible grooves, handles or markings on the poles, making the group wonder just what they were in for.

"Welcome to your first individual immunity challenge!" Jiraiya announced cheerfully as soon as all eleven contestants found their way to the wooden benches next to the poles.

"It seems that you're already wondering about the challenge, but we'll get to that a little later," the toad sage carried on. "First things first - what is the name of the new merged tribe?"

There was a short moment of collective embarrassment before Ino not-so-gently elbowed Shikamaru in the ribs, muttering, "It was _your_ doing, so you tell him!"

Sighing in irritation, Shikamaru told Jiraiya, "Kuro. Our new tribe name is Kuro."

The only sounds heard were the gentle crashing of waves at the shoreline.

"Kuro... as in black?" Jiraiya deadpanned. When Shikamaru nodded, he asked, "Why? Of all the possibilities, why Kuro?"

"Eh, I suggested calling our tribe 'Hoshi'!" Naruto piped up. "Cuz, you know, our previous tribes were called 'Sun' and 'Moon', so I thought why not a star?"

"But then it would've sounded like we were naming the tribe after this guy," Deidara butted in, jerking a thumb in Kisame's direction.

"I didn't have any problems with it," the Hoshigaki grinned.

"Yeah, but everyone else did," Deidara snorted. "I for one, was willing to come up with a much more creative and artistic name, but no one else wanted to put in the effort..."

"...and while the arguing was going on, Shikamaru just decided it was all too troublesome and wrote 'Kuro' on our new flag in bright, multi-colored paint," Ino finished.

"Cuz, you know, our new tribe color is black," Naruto added unnecessarily.

"I regret asking," Jiraiya twitched, but collected himself and grinned at the group once more. "So, I take it that your first day of being merged went fairly well?"

"I guess you could say that," Sakura supplied. "There's not really any bad blood, but we're ninja - we all know that everyone here is playing to win."

Nodding in satisfaction at her answer, Jiraiya proceeded to explain the challenge. "Alright - let's get to today's immunity challenge. From now on, tribal immunity is no more. Instead, you will now be competing for this beauty!"

A large popping sound and copious amount of smoke informed the ninja that Jiraiya had just summoned the new individual immunity necklace. It was an intricately carved wooden necklace, the detail consisting of several artistic spirals and swirls of different sizes that were tastefully arranged to look like the Uzushiogakure whirlpools.

"Individual immunity is what you now covert," Jiraiya flourished his hands in the direction of the necklace for extra emphasis. "For today's challenge, you will balance on top of these poles for as long as you can. The last person standing - or should I say, _hand-standing_ \- will win immunity and cannot be voted out tonight."

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in. When they finally did, Ino spluttered, "W-wait a minute! Handstand? Does that mean we-"

"Right you are!" Jiraiya's smile was now downright devious. "The only part of your body that is allowed to touch the poles would be your hands. If you fall off, or any other part of you touches the poles, you will be out of the challenge. You can use chakra for this challenge, but at least one of your hands has to be in contact with the pole at all times."

His instructions were met by an apprehensive silence, broken only by Temari's whisper of, "at least Gai isn't here anymore so we all stand a chance of winning this."

"Alright," Jiraiya nodded. "We'll draw for spots and get started."

...

"You now have your allocated poles!" Jiraiya told the ninja who were standing by the corresponding color that they drew. "You may now begin to chakra-walk up your poles, and I'll count you in. By the time I reach zero, only your hands should be touching the top of the poles."

As the Sannin counted down from five, the contestants assumed their positions. While most of them chose to pose in the standard handstand, there were a few who took their chances on staying upright, supporting their weight on their hands like a gymnast would on a pommel horse.

"This challenge is now on," Jiraiya stated. "The last ninja standing will win immunity for your first tribal council into the merge."

While all of the competitors had expected chakra control to play a big part in this challenge, most of them had failed to anticipate the importance of pain tolerance as well. The poles were fairly tiny, and dug uncomfortably into their palms, even for the kunoichi who had smaller hands.

"These poles hurt like a bitch," Kisame growled, flexing his fingers. He probably had the biggest hands out of the remaining eleven.

"Pain management is equally important as keeping focus on your chakra and balance in this challenge," Jiraiya said as several grunts of agreement were made. "We've only just started - it's gonna get worse."

The next few minutes dragged by slowly. It was a hot day with few clouds in the sky, and sweat was already pouring down several of the ninja's bodies. Some were attempting to do deep breathing exercises to distract from the pain, while others had their eyes closed to help focus on their chakra control.

Without any warning, Shikamaru somersaulted down onto the sand.

"Shikamaru is the first out of this challenge!" Jiraiya announced, resulting in a few curious looks towards the Nara. "I must ask, Shikamaru - it's way too soon to be out because you've run out of chakra or stamina. You didn't lose your balance either. Why'd you give up?"

"It was too troublesome," came the unsurprising reply. "I know I can't win this one as there are others here who have way better stamina and chakra control than me. I'm saving my efforts for a situation where I actually stand a chance of winning."

Nodding in slight exasperation, Jiraiya informed the remaining ten, "The rest of you have been up there for six minutes."

Now that the interruption was over, the ninja resumed their previous tactics in staying up. Some of them looked solid and unwavering, while others were shifting their hands and making minor adjustments to their posture periodically. The silence continued for what seemed like a long time, the only sounds in area coming from mother nature.

Ino shifted her hands slightly, trying to ease the pressure on her palms. She was one of the few that had chosen to remain upright instead of going upside down. While this gave her an advantage of not having to deal with the blood rushing to her head, it also meant that she had to be extra careful to keep the rest of her body from touching the poles.

"We're now half an hour in," came Jiraiya's announcement.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Ino was just about to shift her weight again when a thought came to her. They were ninja, for crying out loud! Who cares if she cheated and used some chakra to stick her feet to the sides of the pole? It would definitely ease the pressure off from her aching hands, and it wouldn't be an issue if no one caught her doing it.

Casting a quick glance to her right and left, Ino was pleased to note that Sakura had her eyes closed in concentration and Kisame was glaring resolutely ahead past the treeline. They were both upside down in handstands as well, so they'd have to actually put in effort to catch her cheating.

Making up her mind, Ino slowly inched her toes towards the poles and -

"AH!"

A jolt of electricity ran through her entire body and disrupted her chakra flow, sending Ino plummeting towards the ground. Thankfully, she managed to right herself in the air before she ate a mouthful of sand, and landed in a low crouch instead.

"Ino is the second person to be out of the challenge!" Jiraiya informed the group who had started at her yelp. Chuckling at the confused blonde, he added in explanation, "that's what you get for trying to cheat."

At her glare, Jiraiya pointed to the bottom of the poles where a few kanji characters were written in black ink. "As soon as this challenge started, I secretly activated those seals. If anyone touches any part of the pole except the very top of it, a chakra-disrupting bolt will be sent through their body."

A few of the remaining ninja paled at the news - or perhaps it was from staying in a handstand for so long - and took extra precaution to avoid touching the poles.

Following Ino's elimination, Temari was the next out at the one hour mark, citing a similar reason to Shikamaru. Deidara was next, the afternoon heat making him drowsy enough to lose his balance.

When two hours had gone by since the commencement of the challenge, the remaining seven had started to make drastic changes to their stances. Those who had started in a handstand were beginning to shift to the gymnast position, hoping to alleviate the pressure in their heads from staying upside down for so long, while the ones who started upright were slowly shifting to handstands.

With a pained grunt, Kisame was sent falling towards the sand and landed with a loud thud. His massive and bulky frame had caused the outside of his left thigh to accidentally brush the side of the pole when he changed his position, sending the same jolt through his chakra system that Ino had experienced earlier.

"We are now down to six!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "Two hours and twelve minutes have gone by and we are seeing a lot of movement from all the remaining ninja. How are you guys holding up?"

"Great, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted, his voice strained from his upside down position. "I can do this for days!"

"Who are you, Gai?" Hanabi teased, trying to rile him up. Naruto was a stamina beast and could very likely be up for eons if he didn't get bored or distracted first.

To her surprise, Naruto didn't seem to miss a beat. "He once gave me some of that green spandex, you know! I was super excited to wear it but Ero-sennin over here refused to let me, but then I said-"

"We do _not_ need that mental image," Kakashi cut in quickly before Naruto could get any further.

However, it was too late and the remaining ninja (including Naruto) couldn't seem to get the image of a green spandex-clad Gai hugging an equally green spandex-clad Naruto as they tried in vain to focus on staying in the challenge. Even Itachi was not spared, even though he would _never_ admit that. Ever.

"I would prefer orange spandex instead, though," Naruto said innocently about five minutes later. "Bright orange. Not dull orange. Bright."

That was the last straw for a physically and mentally exhausted Hanabi. The young kunoichi huffed as she lost her balance and landed on the ground, shaking her head in disappointment.

"And then there were five," Jiraiya said as he tried not to laugh. "You've been up there for almost two hours and twenty minutes!"

"I'm gonna beat you, teme!" Naruto yelled over to Sasuke, who had drawn the spot at the other end of the line.

"I'd like to see you try, dobe," came the usual haughty response.

"In case you two idiots haven't noticed," Sakura said in irritation, "I'm still here and could also win this!"

"Were they always like this?" Itachi whispered to Kakashi. They had drawn spots that were right beside each other.

"Yep," he said simply.

"My sincerest apologies."

"Thanks."

"We can hear you, you know!" Naruto growled as Sakura and Sasuke made noises of agreement.

Kakashi and Itachi put on expressions of well-honed nonchalance in response.

"Let's up the ante!" Jiraiya interrupted before anymore banter ensued. "From now until we have a winner, you can only have one hand on the pole. No switching out hands, so choose carefully. I'll count you down from five and you have to make the transition by then or you're out."

Shutting up immediately as Jiraiya started his count, the five ninja quickly resumed their upside down positions and shifted their weight to the hand of their choice.

The first thing that became apparent was the increased pain in their chosen palm as their full body weight was now held up by only one hand. While the males had to grit their teeth and bear it, Sakura's hand began to glow a faint shade of green.

"Ah, I see that you're using medical chakra to ease the pressure in your hand, Sakura," Jiraiya addressed her. "That's a good idea."

Sakura merely smiled smugly in response as she felt Naruto and Sasuke shoot her envious looks. However, she was worried inwardly. While she had the best chakra control out of the remaining five and could ease her pain where they couldn't, she knew it would only be a matter of time before she ran out of chakra before the others did. All she could hope for was for the pain to become unbearable for them before she was forced to give up.

Time seemed to fly after this. Sakura focused intently on using the bare minimum amount of chakra to keep herself in the challenge, blocking out Naruto's occasional cries of determination and encouragement to himself. Itachi and Sasuke were silent as expected, while Kakashi had somehow at some point retrieved his Icha Icha book and held it in his unoccupied hand, reading it while he was upside down.

"You've just passed the three and a half hour mark," Jiraiya announced.

Back on the sit-out bench, Shikamaru narrowed his eyes as he considered the group of five who were still battling it out. He wasn't sure if he was just being paranoid, but he could definitely see a potential power alliance if these five got together. When they were bantering an hour ago, they had actually sounded friendly. And why wouldn't they? As much as he might deny it, Team 7 was definitely still precious to Sasuke. Itachi was former ANBU with Kakashi, on the Brain Tribe with Sakura and had reached some sort of weird respect/agreement with Naruto during the Ninja War. And it even looked like Sasuke was starting to be attracted to Sakura.

If Sasuke got his head out of his arse and the Uchiha brothers joined up with Team 7, they would be an unstoppable alliance. It would pretty much guarantee that no one else would have a chance at getting higher than the Top 6. He would have to do his utmost best to prevent this power alliance from happening.

Before Shikamaru could think further on it or voice his concerns out loud, he registered Sakura dropping to the sand and heading towards the bench.

"And with that, the last remaining kunoichi is now out of the challenge!" Jiraiya announced. Before he could say more, however, Itachi had also abandoned his pole and landed on the sand.

Kakashi, now noticing that he was the sole obstacle between Naruto and Sasuke's glaring match, wasted no time in also hopping down to the sand. Yes, similar to Sakura and Itachi, he was exhausted, but he still could've gone a while longer if it didn't mean he'd have to be playing referee.

"Wow!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "In a sudden turn, it looks like only Naruto and Sasuke are left to battle it out for the first individual immunity of the game!"

Smirking at Jiraiya's announcement, Sasuke spoke to his rival. "Feel free to give up anytime now, dead-last."

To his surprise, Naruto didn't rise to the bait. Instead, the Uzumaki seemed to go completely still for a few moments.

"Tch," Sasuke said. "Ignoring me because you know I'm right?"

A sudden shift in Naruto's chakra caught his attention. It wasn't a spike or increase in amount, but rather his chakra itself felt different. Shifting himself carefully, Sasuke glanced at his competitor and had to conceal his shock.

Naruto had activated Sage Mode.

"Oi!" Jiraiya shouted from below. "Naruto - you do know that this challenge should ideally end today right? Are you determined to stay up there for the next year?!"

"If you're worried about that, then let's up the ante again, Ero-Sennin," Naruto grinned, the blue in his eyes becoming even more vivid thanks to the shades of red around his lids. "One finger to balance."

"Sasuke has to agree to it," Jiraiya shrugged. "These are rules you're making on your own, so you have to decide together."

"Come on, teme," Naruto goaded. "Unless you're scared?"

Narrowing his eyes in determination, Sasuke said, "You're on."

"Alright, then," Jiraiya called. "I'll count to three, and you both have to make the transition by then. One... Two... Three."

To their credit, both males managed to transition to one finger without any problems. However, while Naruto was near infallible in this challenge now that he had activated Sage Mode, Sasuke didn't possess any abilities that could give him a similar edge. Adding to the fact that he had been working hard for over four hours, it only took a few minutes for Sasuke to concede defeat this time around.

"After a massive effort, Naruto wins the first individual immunity!" Jiraiya declared. He was extremely proud of his apprentice, but not surprised by the outcome.

Letting out a whoop of excitement, Naruto jumped down to the sand and bounced with happiness as Jiraiya clasped the immunity necklace around his neck.

"Congratulations, Naruto!" Jiraiya smiled. "You've won immunity and cannot be voted out at tonight's tribal council. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the rest of you. You have until tonight to decide who you're going to vote out."

* * *

 _Day 20 - Kuro_

As soon as they returned to camp, it seemed evident that Team 7 and the Anti-Konoha Alliance were working hard to build their armies. Deidara was immediately whisked away by Kisame, and Itachi called Hanabi and Temari with him to 'go get water', while Shikamaru found himself and Ino dragged away by Sakura.

"I know we may not have always seen eye to eye," Sakura began, looking at Ino in particular. "But we need each other right now if we want to get further-"

"You don't need to try so hard," Shikamaru found himself interrupting her. Glancing to where Naruto and Kakashi were standing a few feet away from them, he added, "I wanna rinse off after that challenge. Grab those two and we can all have a dip in the sea."

Sending Shikamaru a slightly perplexed look (it wasn't as if he'd actually broken a sweat in that challenge), Sakura motioned for her teammates to follow them into the water.

Shikamaru waited until they were all waist-deep in seawater before he spoke again.

"Ino and I are happy to align with the three of you," he said simply, while the kunoichi in question nodded in agreement.

"That's awesome, dattebayo!" Naruto laughed happily, before confusion creased in his brows. "But why'd you have to come all the way out here to tell us something so simple?"

"Because," Shikamaru inhaled deeply before replying, "Itachi has been using his crow summons to spy on everyone that's on the same beach as him."

A stunned silence followed his proclamation, and Shikamaru didn't blame them. He himself had been gobsmacked when he had figured it out, and it had taken him a lot of deliberation before deciding what to do with this information. In the end, he concluded that siding with Team 7 was his only option; if he kept Itachi's secret to himself, that would give Itachi way too much power in the game and they might as well just name him Sole Shinobi Survivor on the spot. To give himself a fighting chance, Shikamaru would have to spill the beans to the right people.

Realizing that the group was still waiting for his explanation, Shikamaru told them about his observations while he was on the Brain Tribe, and how Itachi had essentially played them all.

"If you still don't believe me, just check the jungle when we get back to camp," he said. "You'll see crows in the trees when there were none before."

"No, no..." Sakura shook her head. "I do believe you - it makes way too much sense. But damn, that Uchiha..."

"So you dragged us out here where there are definitely no crows around to hear our plans," Kakashi correctly deduced.

"Yes," Shikamaru told the group. "And now that we've gotten that out of the way, who should we vote out tonight?"

"I would say Itachi himself, but the guy's got an immunity idol and is overly paranoid. I mean, come on, he's got his fucking summons acting as his spies," Ino said. "Getting rid of him is easier said than done."

"Agreed," Sakura frowned. "And we don't have the numbers to split the vote between him and someone else in case he plays his idol."

"Not to mention it looks like we're five to their six," Ino added. "We need to get someone to flip to us. What about Temari?"

Noticing that she'd directed the question to him, Shikamaru said, "I could try. Some back up from Naruto for that could be useful too."

"Sure thing!" Naruto grinned. "Temari and I go way back! We'll get her for sure!"

"Then who should we vote for?" Kakashi wondered. "In the slim chance that Temari won't want to side with us, we shouldn't be voting Itachi out. She could tell him and he could play his idol which would send one of us home instead."

"Which is _exactly_ why we should tell Temari we want Itachi out," Shikamaru looked like a light bulb had just lit up over his head. "We make it seem like we're targeting him and..."

"...we flush his idol while actually voting for someone else!" Sakura finished excitedly. "Genius!"

"But we need to be super hush-hush about it to pull this off," Ino reminded the group. "We can't let any crows go reporting back to Itachi, or make him suspicious that we know about his spying."

"On the contrary," Kakashi smiled mischievously. "I think we should definitely let his crows overhear us."

"My thoughts exactly," Shikamaru drawled, exchanging a curt nod with the Copy-nin. "Here's what we should do..."

...

Thankfully, the Team 7 and 10 alliance made it back to camp a minute before the Anti-Konoha Alliance did, making it easy to avoid suspicion. When the entire tribe was fully gathered, Sakura offered to fry up a few coconut husks for everyone.

"That'll be great," Temari smiled gratefully. "I'd be cool with going to gather a few coconuts."

"I'll come with," Shikamaru shrugged lazily.

"Ooooh!" Naruto teased, making kissing noises at the pair. "I'll also go to make sure you both behave!"

"B-baka!" Temari spluttered as she turned bright red.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed, already walking towards the treeline. "Let's just get going, already."

Sakura sat down by the fire as the trio disappeared into the jungle. The shuffling around her told her that Kakashi, Sasuke and Kisame had joined her. Adding a few sticks to the fire, Sakura just hoped that Shikamaru and Naruto would deliver as their entire plan for the night hinged on them being convincing enough.

In an ideal world, Temari would join up with their alliance, and Itachi would think they were all voting for him tonight. He would play his idol for himself, when in reality they would be placing six votes on Kisame, thus sending a huge physical threat and loyal Itachi-ally out of the game. However, that was also the chance that Temari wouldn't join them, and one of their own would be going home. If this was going to be the case, getting Itachi to still play his idol would be the second best scenario.

Blowing lightly on the flames, Sakura didn't even want to consider the worst case - Temari refusing join them and Itachi seeing through their ruse, saving his idol for another day while sending one of her allies packing.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she hardly registered two pairs of ninja wandering off - Ino and Deidara wading into the water together, and Itachi pulling Hanabi to the far side of camp.

...

"What's the go?" Ino whispered as she dipped her hair into the water.

"Don't worry," Deidara told her quietly as he wove his fingers through his own damp hair. "We aren't voting you tonight, yeah. You're safe."

Relief flooded Ino's chest at the news. When the merge happened, The Annoying Blonde Ponytail Pair (TABPP) had known that they would have to part ways; they both belonged in different alliances and would stick out like sore thumbs in the other. It had been a bittersweet moment for them as they had definitely bonded since Day 1. Even their cuddling at night would have to be temporarily halted.

Deciding to make the most out of things, Ino and Deidara had decided that they would still secretly remain allies with each other independent of their new alliances. They would let each other know if they were being targeted, in hopes of the both of them surviving long enough to eventually be able to work with each other again. However, they had also agreed that they wouldn't tell each other who else was actually being targeted for the vote as it would add too many complications and arouse suspicion with others easily.

"You're also safe tonight," Ino responded when Deidara looked at her expectantly.

"Good to know," Deidara muttered, his right hand reaching towards her before he hesitated and withdrew it. "We'll get to Day 39 together, just you wait."

...

Itachi brought Hanabi to a quiet corner of camp and motioned for them to take a seat. He strategically maneuvered them such that Hanabi's back was to the group left at camp, leaving himself able to keep an eye on things.

"Do it now," Itachi said, his voice lowered. "No one is paying attention to us."

Chakra flared into the young Hyuuga's eyes, causing the veins at her temples to bulge as her bloodline was activated.

"Anything?" Itachi prompted.

"Give me a few seconds," Hanabi muttered as she frowned in concentration, scanning the entire camp as thoroughly as she could. She checked the jungle floor, tree tops, sand, bags...

Her eyes only widened minutely for a split second, but it was enough for Itachi to notice.

"You found one." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Hanabi said, then hesitated for a moment, her face showing slight confusion. When she met Itachi's demanding gaze, she told him, "Naruto has a hidden immunity idol in his bag. That's the only idol I can see in the entire camp and surrounding area."

Itachi mulled over this information. He couldn't be completely certain that Hanabi was telling him the truth - after all, all signs pointed to either Deidara, Ino or Kakashi having an idol. Perhaps the idol belonging to Naruto was found on the Brawn Tribe's beach, but that still didn't explain the absence of the Beauty Tribe's idol.

"Are you certain there isn't another?" Itachi urged, his voice leaving no room for argument. "Specifically check former Beauty Tribe members."

He did not trust Deidara (the explosives expert was no Kisame), but Hanabi didn't need to know that, hence he refrained from giving specific names to check. Itachi's impatience only grew when Hanabi shook her head after scanning the camp again.

"I'm certain," she told him. "No one else has an idol except you and Naruto."

Itachi's sharingan flashed threateningly. "If I find out you're lying to me..."

"I'm not!" Hanabi said quickly. An angry Itachi was definitely _not_ somebody she wanted on her tail. "Honestly! I really can't see anything else. If you're so sure there must be a third idol, then maybe they're just really good at hiding it, or they anticipated my byakugan being able to see it-" she paled at the ice in Itachi's gaze. "O-or I dunno! Unless it's in a different dimension or not on this beach my eyes should be able to spot it!"

When Itachi averted his eyes from her to stare at the group by the campfire, Hanabi felt like she could finally breathe again. That last statement she made was a desperate attempt, but at least it seemed to convince Itachi that she wasn't out to deceive him.

"Thank you, Hanabi," Itachi said, his voice a lot more gentle than before. "I'm sorry if I came on too strong. Forgive me."

Hanabi nodded numbly as the older Uchiha placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, the words in her throat dying when he offered her a small, but not unkind smile.

...

Temari stared numbly at the setting sun as she finished up the last of her coconut husk. The horizon was beautifully painted in a dazzling array of colors, but she couldn't bring herself to enjoy it as her mind was preoccupied with the conversation that she had with Shikamaru and Naruto a short while ago.

When the three of them went to collect coconuts, the pair had invited her to join with their alliance and vote to get Itachi out. Temari had definitely considered it - after all, getting rid of a huge threat like Itachi was a very appealing thought - but hadn't given them a definite answer. While Itachi should go eventually, she wasn't sure if such a big move should be made so soon after the merge.

Sighing as she dusted her hands off, Temari stood up and gathered her belongings to take with her to tribal council. She may not have immediately jumped on board with they boys' proposal, but the puppy dog look in Naruto's eyes and Shikamaru looking so effortlessly attractive had her at least informing them that Kakashi was the target of her alliance for tonight. She had caved when they'd gotten back to camp, whispering the information into Shikamaru's ear and whacking Naruto when he had started making kissing noises again.

All Temari knew was that she would have to make her decision at tribal council. She had run out of time to ponder her options or even get Hanabi's advice as Itachi had smartly kept the girl by his side for the whole afternoon, making it impossible for anyone to approach her privately. And making matters even more stressful was the inkling she got that told her Itachi totally knew she was considering flipping. Temari had caught him staring at her a few times as they ate their coconuts, only for him to hold his gaze steady and actually offer her a tiny smile each time. Since when did Uchiha Itachi smile at just anyone?!

As she began the walk to the tribal council hut with the rest of the group, a stressed out and frazzled Temari realized that tonight's vote was essentially up to her.

* * *

 _Night 20 - Tribal Council_

"Welcome to your first post-merge tribal council," Jiraiya greeted the eleven ninja that sat before him. "What is camp life like now that everyone is finally together?"

"It's pretty good," Sakura spoke up. "I mean, everyone pulls their weight around camp and we all get on socially, even if we're not all in the same alliance. We get that this is a game and it shouldn't be personal, so there haven't been any real tensions going on."

"Interesting," Jiraiya said, listening intently to her words. "You mentioned alliances. Am I right to assume that alliances are still falling withing previous tribal lines?"

"At this point I do think that's the case, barring a couple of exceptions," Sakura said neutrally. "After all, with all the uncertainty that the merge brings, people tend to stick with those that they already know or feel more secure working with. But I suppose we can only tell for sure once the votes have been cast."

"Fair point," Jiraiya nodded. "Itachi - if we're going by old tribes, are you worried? Because your former tribe was technically down one member from the other."

"It is foolish to feel completely safe at any point in a game like this," Itachi said diplomatically. "However, I have faith in those whom I've spoken to and trust that they will keep their word. So to answer your question, I can only do my part and hope that everyone else does theirs."

"Wise words," the Toad Sage acknowledged. "Let's move on to the immunity challenge earlier today. Naruto, you were pretty impressive up there. How does it feel to be the only one who's guaranteed safety for tonight?"

"It feels awesome!" Naruto grinned happily. "It's a lot less stressful for me tonight, but at the same time I'm still worried that one of my precious people may get voted out."

"And what about next time?" Jiraiya asked his apprentice. "Is there any worry that winning the first individual immunity might put a target on your back in the future?"

"Nah," Naruto answered without missing a beat. "Everyone here is good at different things. There are definitely certain types of challenges where some of the others here can win hands down."

"Tch," Sasuke interjected. "Glad to know you finally have some awareness of your limitations."

"You're just mad 'cuz I beat you just now, teme," Naruto stuck his tongue out at him.

Sasuke smirked. "Enjoy it while it lasts, dobe, because this is the last time you'll be able to say-"

The argument was cut short when Temari let out a shocked yelp. Noticing that everyone was now staring at her, the Suna kunoichi blushed a deep shade of scarlet and mumbled something about a spider that she found crawling up her leg.

 _Ino!_ Temari screeched in her head. _Don't scare me like that - give a girl some warning next time, will you?_

 _Sorry, sorry,_ Ino replied, not sounding apologetic at all. _Just so you know, it's only you, me and Shika on the mind-link right now._

 _Troublesome,_ came Shikamaru's unenthusiastic drawl. _Jiraiya's already asking the next question, so I'll make this quick. We've decided to change the vote. We're all now voting for Kisame._

Upon hearing Temari's mental acknowledgement, Ino severed the mind-link and the three ninja tuned back into what was happening at tribal council.

"I don't think that's necessarily the case," Kakashi was saying in response to whatever question Jiraiya had just asked. "If we go by the mentality of getting rid of big threats first, then we might as well not play this game anymore." Pointing to the entire group, he continued, "We're ninja. It's our job to be threatening and strong and strategic and charming, depending on what the mission calls for. We're all big contenders here to win."

"I see your point," Jiraiya nodded in agreement. "So then what _is_ tonight's vote about for you?"

"Tonight's vote is a strategic play," Kakashi said as he rubbed his masked chin in thought. "It's a move that will propel my alliance forward if we manage to pull it off."

"Thinking long-term," Jiraiya summed up. "I like it. And what about you, Kisame? What is tonight's vote about for you?"

"I guess it's along the same lines for me," Kisame shrugged. "If it goes the way I'm voting, then it'll be a huge blow to the other alliance."

"So tonight's vote is a very crucial point in the game," Jiraiya concluded. "Is that right to say, Temari?"

"Let's just say that lines will very likely be drawn in the sand after tonight," she responded.

"I'm excited to see what happens," Jiraiya clapped his hands together once. "I think it's time to vote. Remember - Naruto has immunity and cannot be voted out, but everyone else is fair game. Let's get to it."

...

"I have the votes," Jiraiya patted the urn that was tucked securely under his arm. "If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and would like to play it, now would be the time to do so."

The tribal council hut was uncomfortably quiet as several ninja tried to glance at but also not glance at Itachi. Half of the room was ignorant, while the other half was hoping and praying that an idol would get flushed out tonight. Some were fidgeting, while others didn't dare to breathe.

"Jiraiya."

Naruto's mouth fell open in shock as he saw his porn-loving, mask-wearing ex-sensei stand up and walk towards Jiraiya. Several questions were running through his head - did Kakashi have an idol? Why didn't he tell him or Sakura-chan if he did? Why was he playing it? Surely he knew that they had the numbers with Temari on their side!

"Give me a second," Kakashi said as he casually lifted up his headband to reveal his sharingan, which was now in its mangekyo form. He held out his arm and suddenly time and space itself seemed to warp around the area above his outstretched hand. When the pocket dimension settled, a yellow hidden immunity idol was innocently nestled in Kakashi's hand. "I'd rather play it and be wrong than not play it and chance going home."

Several things happened all at once. While Kakashi handed the idol to Jiraiya and readjusted his headband, Naruto and Sakura both jumped to their feet in shock, pointing fingers of accusation and admiration in his direction; Hanabi and Itachi glanced at each other briefly, exchanging several unspoken words in a short few seconds and Sasuke was fuming.

"You!" Sasuke snarled, his outburst causing the flurry of activity to cease.

"Me," Kakashi shrugged, pointing to himself.

"No - that's not what I meant!" Sasuke sputtered. "When did you find that? You _knew_ I spent days searching for it! I told you about it several times!"

Kakashi's smile was now downright infuriating. "I found it when I got lost on the road of life."

A stunned silence from the general populace followed the absurd proclamation, but understanding filled Sasuke and his eyes grew into perfectly round circles, his mouth opening and closing in shock with no sound escaping his lips. Kakashi was famous for spouting nonsensical excuses for his tardiness, but the only time he had said this particular one during the game was back on the Beauty Tribe when they were building their shelter. Sasuke remembered that experience particularly clearly because he was practically the only one who had built that shelter.

 _The shelter took a few hours to build, considering that the tribe seemed to have trouble focusing on the task at hand. Deidara flirted shamelessly with Ino and Kurenai, while the two kunoichi took advantage of the situation and shifted their building responsibilities to the willing male. Being an explosives expert who was far more inclined to demolishing things instead of constructing them, Deidara's progress was slow going. Haku, on the verge of giving up on the three of them, offered to build a shelter made of his ice mirrors instead. Sasuke shot the idea down, not wanting Haku to waste chakra maintaining the structure for extended periods of time. Eventually, the grumpy Uchiha built most of the shelter with some help from Haku. And Kakashi? Kakashi had wandered off into the jungle to gather wood, only to return two hours later because he "got lost on the road of life"._

"You had it on Day 1 within the first few hours of being on that beach," Sasuke whispered in shock.

Kakashi forming the 'V for victory' sign with his right hand was all the answer Sasuke needed.

"I take it you're playing this idol for yourself?" Jiraiya asked, highly amused at a gawking Sasuke. He wished he had a camera.

"I am."

"Very well," Jiraiya said, holding up the necklace. "This is indeed a hidden immunity idol. Any votes cast against Hatake Kakashi will not count." Giving a few seconds for anybody else to stand up and play another idol, the Sannin continued when no one else moved. "I'll now read the votes."

"First vote: Kakashi. Does not count."

The Copy-nin's smiled widened.

"Next vote," Jiraiya said as he pulled out the next slip of parchment. "Kakashi. Does not count."

Sasuke wanted to beat that annoying grin off his former sensei's face.

"Third vote: Kakashi. Again it does not count."

When the fourth and fifth vote also turned out to be for Kakashi, the man in question chanced a quick look at the Anti-Konoha Alliance members. All of them were stony faced.

"Sixth vote," Jiraiya paused as he unfolded the paper. "Kakashi. Does not count."

Shikamaru and Naruto turned sharply towards Temari, a questioning look on their faces. The Suna kunoichi could only offer a sheepish and apologetic smile in response.

"Kisame."

The name was uttered by Jiraiya, who was pulling out another vote from the urn. "Next vote: Kisame. That's two votes for Kisame; three more votes to go."

The blue Akatsuki nin shook his head, muttering a string of colorful curses under his breath. He knew what was coming next.

"Eighth person voted out of Survivor: Ninja Edition and the first member of our jury," Jiraiya revealed the name on paper, "Kisame. That's three votes and is enough - please bring your torch over."

"Damn, you fuckers got me good," Kisame grinned as he let out a loud chuckle, grabbing his torch and belongings with him. He clapped Itachi on his shoulder. "Play hard, my man."

"Kisame, the tribe has spoken," Jiraiya said as he extinguished his torch. "Time for you to go."

"Keep going strong," Kisame told the group as he walked towards the exit. "I'll be looking forward to watching you from the comfort of my new luxurious jury life."

Waiting until Kisame had made his full exit, Jiraiya addressed the remaining ten ninja in front of him. "Well, from the reactions tonight it indeed looks like there were lines drawn in the sand and alliances shaken. But wind and waves reset that in time, so you always have to be on your toes. Get back to camp and goodnight."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Whew! That was a big chapter and I had so much fun writing all the strategy in it! For those of you who don't wanna do the math on your own, there were 11 votes to be cast in total. Kakashi got 6 that didn't count thanks to his idol, leaving only 5 real votes. Jiraiya only needed to read out 3 for Kisame as that already guaranteed his elimination. Yosh! Thanks again for reading, pwease review, fav and subscribe xxx


	9. Worse Than Trash

**Previously on Survivor: Ninja Edition...**

The merge forced the Anti-Konoha Alliance and Team 7 to start recruiting their numbers. When Naruto won the first individual immunity challenge, Team 10 members Ino and Shikamaru joined forces with Team 7, while Deidara joined the former Tsuki members. Unknown to the rest of the players, Ino and Deidara still continued their secret power couple alliance, while Hanabi revealed Naruto's hidden immunity idol to Itachi. Facing tribal council, Team 7 and 10 hatched a plan to flush Itachi's idol and get rid of his right-hand man Kisame, while recruiting Temari into their alliance. However, Temari chose to remain with the Anti-Konoha Alliance and a surprise twist led to Kakashi revealing and playing his own idol to save himself, while Itachi kept his safe and Kisame was the first person sent to the jury. 10 ninja remain; who will be voted out tonight?

Ep 8 Votes:

Voted for Kakashi - Itachi, Sasuke, Kisame, Deidara, Hanabi, Temari (6)  
Voted for Kisame - Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, Ino, Shikamaru (5)  
Idols played - Kakashi for himself

Idols/Advantages:

Naruto - Hidden Immunity Idol (Sakura, Kakashi, Hanabi and Itachi know)  
Itachi - Hidden Immunity Idol (everyone knows)  
Hanabi - Legacy Advantage (use at 6; no one knows)

* * *

 **Survivor: Ninja Edition - Ep 9**

Worse Than Trash

 _Night 20 - Kuro_

Itachi was silent throughout the entire trek back to camp after tribal council. While he kept up an impassive mask, he was feeling rather angry and slightly lost on the inside.

Kisame had just been voted out, and it was a huge blow to the Uchiha's game plan. His Akatsuki partner had been a completely loyal ally, and now that he was gone, Itachi only had Sasuke to fall back on. However, having his foolish little brother's entire Konoha team still in the game was a risky factor, as Sasuke could be drawn back to them in due time.

Upon arrival at camp, Itachi noted how Temari had gone up to Shikamaru and Naruto to apologize. Thanks to his crows, he was well aware that Temari had been approached by them with the suggestion to vote him out. Knowing an act when he saw one, he knew he was safe for the night and need not play his idol. What he didn't anticipate, however, was for his opponents to knock out his right-hand man.

Itachi hid a frown as he followed Temari with his eyes. She was now whispering with Hanabi, their voices too low to decipher. He was no fool; while Hatake's idol concealment was very impressive, he still would have needed a heads up to know when to play it. This obviously meant that someone in Itachi's alliance had spilled the beans on their plans. It was clearly not Sasuke or Kisame, and Deidara wasn't dense or smart enough to have tried it. He had been careful to keep Hanabi by his side for the entire afternoon, leaving Temari as the only option to be the snitch.

It didn't matter that Temari ended up voting with them, and that they had the numbers for the vote earlier tonight. The fact was that Temari had sold their plans out, and it was bad luck that Kakashi had just happened to have an idol that no one, not even his closest allies, knew about. There would be consequences to pay and Temari would have to be eliminated, but if today proved anything, Itachi's allies in the game seemed to be few and far between at the moment. He wasn't sure if he could afford to cull her just yet.

Lying down in the shelter and closing his eyes, Itachi was at a loss for what to do for the first time since this game had started.

* * *

 _Day 21 - Reward Challenge_

"Come on in, guys!" Jiraiya beckoned.

The ten ninja found themselves in a decently-sized clearing in the Uzushiogakure jungle. Instead of the usual grass-covered ground, however, there was only dried mud and small rocks to comprise the uneven ground. It looked as if a swamp used to exist here, but had long since dried out. The only man-made feature in sight was a circular wooden fence that was built close to the clearing's edges.

"Ready for your reward challenge?" Jiraiya asked. When he received several nods, he continued, "Today's challenge will see you divided into two teams of five at random. The five of you will be tied together in a single file with rope and everyone will carry a weight of twenty kilograms. You will run clockwise around the outside of the wooden fence. Both teams will run at the same time."

Several glances were exchanged by this point. Judging from the explanation so far, they would be forced to stick together and run as a group as they would be bound together.

"If at any point your weight gets too heavy to carry, you can opt out by passing your twenty kilograms to someone else from your tribe. You will sit out, but the rest of your team has to keep going," Jiraiya continued. "In order to win, you have to catch up to the other team and tag anyone of their members. Chakra may be used for this challenge, but only for the purpose of running. No jutsu or combat allowed."

Seeing comprehension dawn on their faces, Jiraiya grinned. "Now for the reward - the winning five will get to go on a pampering session! You will be taken to a nearby resort where you will feast on cheese platters and be treated to an hour long massage. I know it's worth playing for, so let's draw teams and start."

...

"Alright! On the east side of the clearing we have Naruto, Sasuke, Deidara, Sakura and Temari," Jiraiya pointed to his right, where the five ninja were lined up in accordance to his announcement order. "On the west is Kakashi, Itachi, Hanabi, Shikamaru and Ino. You may all pick up your weights now, and we'll start the challenge."

As soon as the last weight was hoisted up by Shikamaru, Jiraiya held his hands up. "Oh! One last thing," he said before executing a rapid series of handseals. "Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"

Jiraiya cackled deviously as the ten ninja wore varying degrees of shock and horror on their faces as the ground beneath them liquified into a dense, sticky swamp. They sank until their knees were covered in mud.

"Did you think it was gonna be that easy?" Jiraiya laughed. "Be thankful that I only put a tiny bit of chakra in this time! This challenge in now on. Start!"

Snapping out of their shock, both groups wasted no time in starting their jog. However, it became apparent within the first few seconds that this challenge was going to be a grueling one. If the weight on their backs wasn't enough, Jiraiya's infamous jutsu made it at least fifty times harder to pick their feet up and run. It was about balancing a fine line; they could go faster if they used more chakra, but they could go longer (and slower) by using less.

Naruto was predictably the only one who didn't feel the massive chakra drain.

"Come one, guys!" He cheered as he led his group around the circle. "Let's start strong and catch that other team!"

"Easy for you to say," Temari growled, her voice rough with strain. "The rest of us don't have your insane reserves!"

"The dobe's right, though," Sasuke bit out as he grit his teeth. He hated admitting that Naruto made sense sometimes.

"Mind over matter, shannaro!" Sakura added, her brow furrowed in determination as she picked up the pace.

On the other side of the circle, the other team was having just as much trouble, if not more. The three in front - Kakashi, Itachi and Hanabi - buckled down and started a slow jog, while Shikamaru and Ino grimaced as they felt themselves being tugged along via the team's rope connection.

"This is insane!" Ino yelped as she felt the squelch of mud beneath her. "I can't even feel solid earth beneath me, it's like one giant marshmallow and we're ants trying to crawl through it!"

"Careful, the ground is uneven," Shikamaru told his group as he stumbled through a particularly deep dent in the ground. "It's troublesome, but we'll just have to remember which parts are deeper as we can't see where we're going."

"Less talking, more jogging, you two," Hanabi muttered.

The first lap around the circle saw both teams quite evenly matched. While Naruto and Sasuke would have loved to push faster and end things quickly, they knew that doing so would cause more weights to be added to them if the others on their team tired. Instead, they chose to keep pace with the other group, banking on Ino or Shikamaru to be the first to drop out and inevitably slow their group down with the added weight.

Their wish was soon answered halfway into the second lap when Ino tripped on an uneven dip in the swamp and almost dropped her weight.

"Guys, I c-can't," Ino panted, struggling to straighten her back. "I - I'm so sorry."

"And with that, Ino is first out of the challenge!" Jiraiya announced as the kunoichi in question passed her weight forward and unhooked herself from the rope line. "Itachi has taken on her weight and is now carrying a total of forty kilograms on his back."

"Now's the time," Sakura whispered to her group, her voice easily heard by everyone thanks to her position as number four in the line up. "Naruto, up the pace by a tiny bit and we'll follow!"

"Gotcha, Sakura-chan," Naruto acknowledged as he sped up his steps.

By the time they were finishing the third lap, it was evident that Naruto's team was starting to pull ahead.

"And it looks like Naruto is starting to gain on Shikamaru," Jiraiya observed. "Kakashi's team has to pick up the pace if they want a chance of winning this!"

"Okay, let's pick up the pace once more," Sakura told her group, encouraged by Jiraiya's words. "Let's-"

Sakura was cut off when she felt a sharp tug on the back of her rope. Temari had stumbled on a particularly deep section of the mud and fallen face-first into the mush.

"Temari, are you alright?" Sakura called, helping the kunoichi up to her feet. The group was forced to halt momentarily as Temari regained her balance and scooped her weight out of the swamp.

"I'm okay," Temari said, her face filled with exhaustion. "But I can't go any more - take my weight."

"Temari is now out of the challenge!" Jiraiya declared as the Suna nin trudged out of the swamp and her group resumed their pace. "Naruto has taken her weight, and now both teams are down to four."

A few seconds after Jiraiya spoke, it was Shikamaru's turn to face-plant into the mud.

"And just like that, Shikamaru is also out!" Jiraiya told the group. "Kakashi takes the extra weight and his team is now left with three, of which two people are carrying double the weight!"

Hearing the news, Naruto's team visibly picked up their pace. They were determined to closed the distance while the four of them still had stamina left and the other team got tired out with the new excess weight.

"Shit," Hanabi muttered to the remaining members of her team. "They're gaining on us. Let me help by taking the lead. It won't be as taxing for me as it is for you as I'm not carrying extra weight."

Agreeing to her suggestion, Kakashi slowed his pace, allowing Itachi to overtake him, and Hanabi to overtake them both. The person in front did have a more taxing job as there was more resistance to cut through in the swamp, and it was important that Itachi and Kakashi did not tire themselves to the point of giving up the challenge.

"Looks like Hanabi has stepped up to lead the way," Jiraiya observed. "Hopefully this will allow them to stay in the challenge, as Naruto is now only a quarter of the circle away from tagging Kakashi!"

"Are we all able to sprint?" Naruto asked his group, noticing that their opponents were starting to increase their pace. "I want to end it now before they manage to widen the gap."

Receiving affirmative sounds from behind him, Naruto sent a burst of chakra into his legs and began to run toward the other group.

"Naruto and his team are now running!" Jiraiya announced excitedly. "Let's see how long they can keep this up - I know better than anyone that it takes a significant amount of chakra to sprint within my swamp jutsu!"

"Damn it all," Hanabi swore as forced more chakra to her feet and started to run, her two teammates doing the same. Her reserves wouldn't last much longer, but what other choice did she have?

"They're running too but we can catch 'em!" Naruto yelled, increasing his pace even more.

"Sasuke - how are your reserves?" Sakura called, feeling herself being dragged forward by the rope links. She wasn't sure if she could match the new speed Naruto had set.

"I'm fine," came the swift reply. "Pass your weight to me."

Wasting no extra time, Sakura handed her weight forward and unhooked herself, still running forward with her team until she was fully detached to prevent any further delays.

"Sakura has taken herself out of the challenge, passing her weight to Sasuke," Jiraiya called out. "Now both teams are down to three, and Naruto, Sasuke and Deidara have increased their pace yet again! They are so close to tagging the other group out and-"

"Got you, Kaka-sensei!" Naruto yelled as he caught up to the opposing team and slapped Kakashi on the back.

"And with that, the challenge is over!" Jiraiya declared to the exuberant cheers of everyone on the winning team, except for a smirking Sasuke. "Naruto, Sasuke, Deidara, Sakura and Temari have earned themselves a nice afternoon at the massage parlor. Everyone else, I got nothing for you. Head back to camp."

* * *

 _Day 21 - Massage Parlor Reward_

Sakura let out a loud, girlish squeal when she set her eyes on the numerous platters of cheese, fruit and assorted crackers. There was even a selection of teas for them to choose from, and a communal shower area for them to use before and after their massages.

They had been brought to a beautifully decorated pavillion. There was a large, central table where all the food and tea was laid out, with the massage beds and shower towards the side and overlooking the horizon.

The five hungry ninja immediately seated themselves around the table and helped themselves to generous servings of whatever they could get their muddy hands on.

"This is so delicious!" Temari sighed happily as she took a bite of brie.

Sakura was the only one who gave her any indication of agreement, as the three males were too busy shoveling food into their mouths.

Small talk was made as they feasted, but nothing of importance to the game's strategy was shared; the group was content to enjoy the food and each others' company for the time being and get away from the game. While there were technically two separate alliances present at the reward, it didn't mean that they couldn't get along civilly as friends.

When only crumbs remained on the food platters, the ninja slowly wandered over to the massage parlor. Taking care to first wash off any caked-up mud on their bodies, the group then proceeded to lie down on their massage beds where five attendants were waiting for them.

"Sakura."

Glancing up in surprise, Sakura noted that Sasuke had chosen the bed next to hers. Wanting to get some peace and quiet, she had purposefully placed herself at the end of the line, assuming that Naruto would grab the spot beside her. However, it seemed that her other male teammate had beat him to it.

"Sasuke," she greeted with a small but not unfriendly smile.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence after that for the next few minutes, enjoying the sensations the massage was giving them. Before she knew it, Sakura's eyes had slid shut and she let out a contented sigh as her masseuse found a particularly tight spot on her back and kneaded her fingers into the muscle.

A soft chuckle from her right caused Sakura to snap her eyes back open. She was greeted with the sight of an amused Sasuke, which was a rarity in itself, but she was gobsmacked to piece together that he was the one who had also laughed.

"I'm enjoying my well-deserved reward," she raised a challenging brow.

"Never said you didn't deserve it," Sasuke replied, smirk still in place. "You did well."

Sakura was stunned. In all the years of knowing him, she was pretty certain that he had never ever complimented her skills before, but here he was, chuckling at her and saying she did good on a mere reward challenge. Sakura opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out.

"Just stating a fact," Sasuke went on when it was clear that Sakura was having problems formulating a coherent sentence. "You've grown strong."

"Who are you and what have you done with Sasuke?" Sakura blurted out.

Instead of scowling at her like she expected, Sasuke merely smiled - wait, _smiled?!_ \- and said, "That Sasuke? He was an idiot."

Sakura felt like her head was being done in. The man she was currently talking to seemed completely different from the aloof, misguided genin that she had once obsessed over, yet he seemed so familiar. It was like speaking to a new person and old friend at the same time. Also, it didn't help that he was still unfairly handsome and lying there topless on the bed next to her. Not liking the turn that her traitorous thoughts were taking, Sakura did the safest thing she could think of. Change the subject.

"You did well too," Sakura mumbled. "We won mainly because of you and Naruto."

"Maybe," Sasuke said thoughtfully, his eyes still boring into her. "But I'd like to think the reason we won is because we worked together as a team."

With that last statement, Sasuke gave her one last smile - again, since when did Sasuke smile?! - and closed his eyes, signifying that he was done with the conversation. Sakura stared at him for a long time afterwards, as if she was trying to piece together a completely new puzzle that she thought she had solved a long time ago.

* * *

 _Day 22 - Immunity Challenge_

Itachi walked onto the beach determined to win immunity. After Kisame was voted off, he no longer felt like he was in control of the game. He had felt isolated yesterday afternoon post reward challenge, surrounded by people he knew would love to get him out of the game. The worry he was feeling only increased when his foolish little brother came back from the massage reward, listening intently to whatever Sakura and Naruto were rambling on about.

Focusing his attention back onto the impending challenge, Itachi noted that Naruto was currently returning the immunity necklace he had won last time.

"Immunity is back up for grabs," Jiraiya grinned, spreading his arms wide to indicate the obstacle courses built across the beach and in the water. "Today's challenge will take place in a total of three rounds. For the first round, all ten of you will race across the water by jumping on pieces of driftwood. Luck is involved here as not all the pieces of wood will hold your weight. If you drop into the water, you will have to swim back to the starting platform. No jutsu or combat allowed. The first five who make it to shore will move to the next round."

Following Jiraiya's outstretched hand to the ocean, the ninja set their eyes upon about a hundred or so floating pieces of driftwood. Each piece of wood was small, only allowing one foot to be stepping on it at any point in time. Adding to the confusion, the currents in the sea made the wood float around constantly, making it impossible to memorize which pieces were good for holding weight and which were not.

"Let's get this first round out of the way before I introduce the next rounds," Jiraiya told the group as he herded them into a boat which sped them towards the starting platform in the sea. As soon as the last person was standing on the platform, he continued, "Good luck. You'll need it. On your marks, get set - GO!"

The ten contestants sprang to action immediately. A few of the more eager ones such as Naruto and Ino tried their luck by taking huge leaps forwards, hoping to lessen their chances of landing on a dud. Others such as Shikamaru and Hanabi hung back, only taking the next jump to a spot when it was vacated by someone in front of them who was successful in their guess.

"And we already have some sinkers!" Jiraiya announced. "Sakura and Deidara have to swim back to the platform and start over."

The surroundings were in chaos - everything was in motion, from the hopping shinobi to the moving wood pieces.

"Some of you might find that staying on one piece of wood for too long will do you no good," Jiraiya chuckled as Shikamaru's driftwood was swept back by the random currents in the water. "The way to go with this challenge is really to try your luck and keep moving forward!"

A loud, shrill scream told everyone that Ino had set foot on a sinker. By now, everyone was wet and spluttering curses as they tried their best to make it across quickly. It wasn't an uncommon experience for them to make it three-quarters of the way only to sink, and then attempt it again and fail on their first jump. Like Jiraiya had mentioned, this challenge was a matter of pure, dumb luck.

"I made it, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled jubilantly as he kissed the shore.

"And Naruto is the first through!" Jiraiya acknowledged. "We're looking for four more people to join him in the next round!"

"Of course, Naruto always has the best luck-" Sakura grumbled under her breath until she was cut off by landing on a dud driftwood.

A few more minutes of effort resulted in Shikamaru and Itachi reaching the shore at the exact same time.

"We're looking for two more!" Jiraiya yelled to the remaining ninja. "You guys have to pick it up if you want a shot at immunity!"

There was a collective wince as Hanabi sunk into the water just one jump short of making it to shore. The seven who were still battling it out were beginning to look impatient and haggard. Sakura, who was taking a leaf out of her mentor's book and having no luck at all, was swearing up a storm.

"Fucking shit-stained pieces of wood! Go shove up Manda's slimy, scaly ass and massacre each other in there after getting licked by Orochimaru-"

She was interrupted yet again as she plunged into the water.

"Ino has made it!" Jiraiya announced. "We are looking for just one more - it looks like both Temari and Kakashi are neck in neck. Who will get here first?"

The two ninja in question were almost at the shore line. With one final leap, they landed on their last piece of wood. While Kakashi sank into the water, Temari let out a triumphant cry as she tumbled onto the sand.

"And that's it!" Jiraiya indicated for the rest of the ninja to cease their jumping. "Moving onto the second round we have Naruto, Shikamaru, Itachi, Ino and Temari!"

Shifting his attention to five covered podiums in front of him, Jiraiya indicated for each of the successful ninja to choose a spot. On his signal, they uncovered the podiums to reveal a complex slide puzzle.

"No ifs or buts about this round," Jiraiya chuckled as he spied Naruto's look of despair. "The first three to solve your slide puzzle will proceed to the final round. You may start now."

Naruto and Ino were predictably the first ones to start moving their puzzle pieces. While Naruto was hopelessly shifting pieces at random and hoping to somehow get lucky again, Ino was at least visibly trying out various combinations and shapes.

"Lots of movement straightaway from Naruto and Ino," Jiraiya observed. "Temari and Itachi are going slow and steady, while Shikamaru hasn't even touched his puzzle."

Itachi frowned slightly as he hit a snag in his puzzle, forcing him to undo his last few moves to put himself back on track. Ino and Temari were beginning to make some progress, while Naruto was still frantically sliding pieces around at random.

Suddenly, as if an invisible cue was given to him, Shikamaru sprang to life. His hands sped over the tiles of his puzzle, deftly sliding them around without any hesitation. A few seconds later, the lazy genius stepped away from his completed puzzle.

"Out of nowhere, Shikamaru is the first to finish the puzzle!" Jiraiya announced. "Who will be the next two joining him in the final round?"

Moments after Jiraiya's speech, Itachi raised his hand to indicate he was also finished.

"Itachi moves on to the third round!" Jiraiya declared as Ino and Temari snuck looks at his completed puzzle, hoping to glean any possible clues. "You have probably already figured this out, but the puzzle you are solving is the face of Uzumaki Keito."

The kunoichi got back to work quickly, determined to get to the final round. Naruto was miraculously making decent progress, but he was clearly well behind his two competitors who were getting close to being finished.

"It's gonna come down to the wire," Jiraiya observed as the two females were hurriedly sliding pieces into place. "You can only tell if your puzzle is correct when the whole thing is finished."

In the end, Temari managed to slide her final piece into position right before Ino did. Rushing over to check the Suna nin's puzzle, Jiraiya nodded in confirmation.

"By a split second difference, Temari joins Shikamaru and Itachi in the final round!" Jiraiya declared. Pointing to a large demarcated circle of sand further inland, Jiraiya continued, "The three of you will dig in this sand pit for one single frog idol. Whoever finds it first will win immunity and be guaranteed safety at tonight's tribal council. Your time starts now - GO!"

Wasting no time, the three finalists dropped to their hands and knees and started digging at a rapid pace. The circle of sand they were given was fairly large, so they wanted to cover as much ground as possible to have the best chance of finding the idol before their competitors. Temari was flinging large amounts of sand into the air in her haste, while Itachi used all four of his limbs to dig. Even the normally placid Shikamaru was attacking the sand with gusto.

After ten minutes of digging, however, the initial enthusiasm was starting to wear off.

"Oi, how big or small is this idol that we're searching for?" Shikamaru groaned to Jiraiya as he used his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his brow.

"Not very big," Jiraiya shrugged, holding up his hand. "It's just about the size of my palm."

Ino snickered from the observation bench. "That's gotta be the only time Jiraiya would admit to being small," she grinned.

"No! I meant - I meant that the idol is small," Jiraiya spluttered indignantly before unnecessarily adding, "Unlike me. As in, you know."

Three pairs of eyes glared at him in accusation.

"You know this is pretty much like looking for a needle in a haystack, right?" Temari grouched, indicating to the huge piles of sand that she had already dug up. She was in no mood for jokes at this point in time.

"That's why you better keep digging," Jiraiya smiled innocently.

The three shinobi resumed their digging, though with more reluctance this time around. The weather was especially hot today, with practically no cloud cover to shield them from the blazing heat of the sun. The sand they were surrounded with was also warm, the temperature raised by sun exposure.

As the minutes ticked by, their movements became slower and more sluggish. Even Temari, who was used to the Suna heat, was feeling rather lethargic. Shikamaru had copious amounts of sweat pouring down his body. Itachi was desperately doing his best to stay focused and trying not to think about how dehydrated he was.

After half an hour of digging in the scorching heat, Itachi thought he might actually faint. Mildly delirious, he considered just taking a nap for a few minutes when his hand bumped into something hard and solid that was definitely _not_ sand. Immediately alert, his fingers closed around the object and tugged it out of the sand.

"Itachi has found the frog idol and wins immunity!" Jiraiya cried in relief. Even he was feeling the heat from his spot in the shade.

Sasuke was immediately at Itachi's side, forcing water down his parched throat. He even felt himself being doused in a light water jutsu in hopes to cool his body temperature. Idly, as he gulped down the life-giving liquid, Itachi assumed that the other two had people tending to them in a similar fashion.

"Itachi, you have immunity and cannot be voted out tonight. Great effort and well deserved," Jiraiya clasped the necklace around his neck after giving him a few minutes to regain his bearings. "The rest of you are fair game, however. I will see all of you later at tribal council tonight where somebody will be the ninth person voted out of this game."

* * *

 _Day 22 - Kuro_

The deliriousness Itachi had felt while doing the final phase of the challenge had sharpened into hyper awareness by the time he had gotten back to camp. While he was infinitely glad that he was safe tonight, he knew that his place in the game was still at risk with this upcoming vote.

Currently, the numbers stood equally with five people in each alliance, which would result in a tie and re-vote. Additionally, with Kisame being voted off in the previous tribal council, Itachi was paranoid that Sasuke would be today's target. After all, if they were focusing on isolating him, getting rid of his younger brother would be their best option.

As soon as he placed his belongings in camp, Itachi pulled his foolish little brother into the jungle.

"Otouto," he said softly. "I've analyzed what we can do about tonight, and we have two possible options. I want you to choose which you prefer."

When he received a nod from Sasuke, he continued, "As you know, we are currently evenly split. To counter that, our first choice is to bring both Shikamaru and Ino into our five. Naruto has an idol, so we split the vote between him and either Sakura or Kakashi."

"Put four votes on Naruto and three on the other," Sasuke said, understanding what his brother meant. "If Naruto doesn't play his idol, he goes home, whereas if he does it'll tie and go to a re-vote where we will pin all votes on the remaining person."

"Exactly," Itachi smiled, resisting the urge to poke Sasuke on the forehead. "It is a risky option, however. It would hinge entirely on Ino and Shikamaru being open to joining us."

"True - we'll have to rely on Deidara and Temari to convince them," Sasuke added before pausing. "Wait, how did you find out about the dobe having an idol?"

"Hanabi's byakugan," Itachi supplied simply, "which brings me to our second option. The two of us turn on our alliance and tell Naruto that Hanabi has ratted out his idol."

"Shift the target to Hanabi," Sasuke nodded, quick to pick up what his brother was hinting at. He never liked the Hyuuga girl to begin with, but something about it was bugging him. "What good would that do us?"

"I don't trust anyone else except you," Itachi admitted quietly. "Temari was the one who told Kakashi he was being targeted by us, and he played his idol which sent Kisame home. Hanabi is only with us out of fear, and Deidara would happily take up an offer to betray us."

Sasuke pondered for a moment as he weighed his options. His brother was speaking the truth - it was much better to slit your alliance's throat before they slit yours, but he also knew that finding the correct timing was crucial.

Locking eyes with his older brother, Sasuke made up his mind.

...

Meanwhile, Shikamaru found himself in the shallow water with the three Team 7 members.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?" Naruto asked. "We can't target Itachi like we wanted to, and I'm not sure if we actually made a Plan B."

"We could go for Sasuke instead," Shikamaru brought up cautiously. He knew that the younger Uchiha could be a weird topic around these three. "If our goal is to get Itachi out, it makes sense to go for his closest ally."

"Not to mention there's a high chance he'll play his idol for Sasuke," Kakashi reasoned. "He'd do anything for his younger brother."

"I don't know, guys," Sakura shook her head slowly. "We don't have the numbers to split the vote if an idol gets played. Also, shouldn't Ino be here for this discussion?"

Her question made the group pause and look around for their fifth and final alliance member. Naruto spotted her first.

"There!" He pointed to a horizontal log at the far side of camp. "She's sitting on the big log with Deidara."

"Maybe we should target Deidara," Sakura said suddenly. "He and Ino are way too close for comfort and it's been like that ever since we were put on Taiyou."

"They were actually like that since the first day on the Beauty Tribe," Kakashi piped up.

"We can deal with that later," Shikamaru shook his head. "If we're talking about power couples, I think the Uchiha brothers are a lot more dangerous and unbreakable than TABPP."

"Yes, but we don't have the numbers to get around Itachi's idol," Sakura argued.

"We could have the numbers if we get two people to flip to us," Kakashi mused.

"Whose side are you on, Kakashi-sensei?!" Sakura growled at him.

"I'm just saying," Shikamaru interjected before they could get sidetracked, "We could always get Hanabi and Temari to come with us."

"Temari had that chance last time," Naruto disagreed. "She still chose the other side."

"Deidara and Hanabi, then," Shikamaru insisted. "He and Itachi have a complicated past together, apparently."

"Ino could also probably convince him," Kakashi shrugged.

"It's too risky," Sakura pressed.

"Why are you so opposed to voting Sasuke?" Shikamaru raised a suspicious brow.

"It's cuz teme's been making googly eyes at Sakura-chan!" Naruto giggled, earning him a bop on the head from Sakura's fist.

"He has not!"

"Ow, Sakura-chan, that hurt!"

"You-"

"Quiet," Kakashi cut in as he spied the Uchiha brothers emerging out from the jungle. "I know it can be hard, but Shikamaru's plan makes the most sense for us."

"Ino would definitely be on board," Shikamaru nodded.

"Fine," Sakura huffed, clearly outnumbered.

"I could talk to Hanabi, I guess," Naruto volunteered. When he was met with no objections, he waded his way back to shore with the rest following closely behind him.

...

Before he could reach Hanabi, who was tending to the fire, Naruto found himself, Sakura and Kakashi being whisked away by the Uchiha brothers.

"But I wanted to talk to Hanabi," Naruto protested softly, sending Sakura a worried look.

"Just send a shadow clone," she whispered back. "I'm curious to see what this is."

Nodding his assent, Naruto formed a familiar cross-shaped hand seal and a copy of him 'poofed' into existence. Sending his clone to approach Hanabi, Naruto noted that Shikamaru had already reached TABPP and was deep in conversation with them. Satisfied that their alliance's plan would be executed, Naruto shifted his attention to following the group back into the jungle.

"What's up?" He asked once they had come to a stop beside the water well.

"We want to form a new alliance with you," Sasuke said unceremoniously.

There was a short moment of silence before Naruto burst into laughter.

"Nice try, teme," he said. "Even I'm not so gullible..."

He trailed off when he realized that no one else was laughing. Instead, Sakura had this strange look on her face and Kakashi had gone still.

"Prove it," Sakura challenged.

"Naruto-kun, you have an idol," Itachi said simply.

"You've been spying on us," Naruto growled. "Haven't you? That's how you found out."

Itachi shook his head slowly. "I have ways to gather intelligence, but it was Hanabi that told me about your idol."

"She's got a friggin' byakugan, idiot," Sasuke muttered when Naruto showed no signs of comprehension.

"I know that!" Naruto pouted. "All Hyuuga have it-"

"You want Hanabi out," Sakura interrupted.

"Yes," Sasuke shrugged casually.

"And so you've come to us, insinuating that Hanabi is against us because she told you that Naruto has an idol?" Kakashi raised a covered eyebrow. "Why should we ally with you when you're talking about betraying one of your own?"

"Hanabi has wanted to vote us out for a long time," Itachi supplied. "We're merely taking the first strike. It's all part of the game, after all."

"What we're saying is that you're a fool to underestimate Hanabi," Sasuke told them bluntly. "Her eyes can see any idol we've found in secret, and even locate them before they're found."

"Not to mention how much other information she can gather with them," Sakura whispered, catching on. "If she was discreet enough, she could even see which names we write down when we go to vote!"

"Exactly," Sasuke looked at her with gratitude. "I don't know about you, but I don't want someone like that staying on in the game any longer."

"And who knows who else she might tell about your idol, Naruto," Sakura continued. "Idols have more power when less people know about it. She's a direct threat to your game."

"But how do I know that I can trust the two of you?" Naruto asked the two Uchiha. He looked torn as to what he should do.

"We've come to you, haven't we?" Itachi told him gently. "If we meant harm, we would have plotted a blindside against you already."

"And besides, Itachi is safe tonight and has his own idol which he could use on me," Sasuke added. "Neither of us are in danger tonight, so we really have no reason to lie to any of you."

"What about after tonight?" Sakura asked.

"We'll be a team," Sasuke held her gaze, putting as much warmth as possible into his eyes.

"And we'll be unstoppable," Itachi nodded to Naruto. "We'll have two idols in our alliance."

"And three sharingan-users," Sasuke addressed Kakashi this time. "Not to mention we know how to work together as a team."

The group fell into silence, during which Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi shared several glances with unspoken words being exchanged.

"Sakura?"

Sasuke's voice broke the quiet, causing the pink-haired kunoichi to lock eyes with her childhood crush. His hand was extended to her, and his gaze was pleading and sincere. Never having seen Sasuke like this before, Sakura felt as if she had forgotten how to breathe. Slowly, she reached her own hand forward and placed it in Sasuke's. His hand was warm and masculine, powerful but not intimidating.

"You have my word," Sakura whispered, transfixed by the feel of her hand in his.

"Oh just kiss already!" Naruto teased, causing Sakura to blush bright red and try to remove her hand. Sasuke, however, held onto her firmly and extended his other arm to Naruto.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto grinned at his long-time rival, grasping his hand. "But you gotta know this means you can never run away from us again! Ever!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Sasuke smirked.

Seeing Naruto and Sakura so elated, Kakashi couldn't help but smile. He nodded his assent. "We'll vote Hanabi with you."

Satisfied that they had come to an understanding, the Uchiha brothers departed first, not wanting to risk any suspicion. They had to go back to the Anti-Konoha Alliance and pretend to target Shikamaru, citing him as a strategic threat. When the three of them were left by the water well, Kakashi turned to his former students.

"Well?" He asked quietly. "Are we really going to do this?"

Naruto jolted visibly, making his teammates look at him in concern.

"My clone just dispersed," Naruto explained, pausing briefly to sort through the new memories flitting through his brain. "Hanabi is on board with our original plan, and Shikamaru told me that Deidara is too. The three girls are supposed to vote Temari, while the four guys vote Sasuke."

"So we have two options," Kakashi concluded. "Now that Sasuke and Itachi trust us, we can choose if we want Sasuke or Hanabi out. The math works in either situation."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura stared at him in shock. "We just gave our word to get Hanabi out!"

"I don't like having to turn on my friends, Sakura," Kakashi sighed. "Remember what is worse than trash?"

"Yeah but Sasuke is our original precious person and we just told him we're with him!" Sakura argued. "So your logic is flawed, sensei."

"Maa, Sakura-chan," Kakashi held up a placating hand. "I just want to make sure we do what's best for the three of us so we don't get hurt again. I want us to stick together. Whatever the two of you decide, I'll go with it. I just have some reservations in changing alliances so quickly."

"I understand, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said gently before rounding on her blonde friend. "What do you think, Naruto?"

Naruto gulped as he felt Kakashi also look to him for an answer. It was a heavy responsibility to know that the outcome of tonight's tribal council and the future course of the game for many people would be dictated by his choice in this present moment.

* * *

 _Night 22 - Tribal Council_

"Welcome back to tribal council," Jiraiya greeted the group of ten once everyone had taken their seats in the hut. "We'll now bring in our jury, which currently consists of Kisame, who was voted out at the last tribal council."

The massive shark man made his entrance, flashing a grin at the competitors as he sat down across the fire.

"Itachi," Jiraiya addressed him, "you won today's immunity challenge. How does that feel?"

"I was lucky today, no more no less," Itachi responded humbly. "I happened to step on the right pieces of wood and dig in the correct place. But it definitely takes a lot of pressure off me to know I am safe tonight."

"Naruto," Jiraiya now directed his words to his apprentice. "You are the only other person here who's won immunity. Does that make you worried that you're a target tonight because of it?"

"A little bit," Naruto shrugged, "but anything can happen in this game! Everything is always unpredictable and a lot goes on, so the target changes pretty often. I don't think anyone here feels safe."

"Very astute," Jiraiya nodded. "Sasuke, would you say that you've been a target at some point in the game?"

"Of course," Sasuke said simply. "Names are always thrown out around camp, mine included. But I have trust in the people that I've spoken to and that they will do what they said they would do."

"You're referring to your alliance?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes," Sasuke clarified. "I have no doubt that there are many plans made for tonight, but I am confident that mine will work."

"Temari," Jiraiya spoke to the Suna kunoichi. "You had a bit of a reaction to what Sasuke just said. What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing too serious," Temari waved her hand dismissively. "I was only approached today with one plan, so I'm not sure about what Sasuke meant when he said there are many plans."

"I've only made one plan," Sasuke explained. "But I've seen lots of people breaking off to have secret side conversations all afternoon."

"I see," Jiraiya grinned in amusement. "Shikamaru, were you a part of some of these extra discussions?"

"I was," the Nara heir admitted. "It's an uncertain time; both alliances are split evenly with five on each side. There was a lot of scrambling happening with both sides trying to recruit extra numbers, and I think it would be a lie to say that any one of us wasn't involved in that in some way or another."

"Does that worry any of you that are aligned with Shikamaru?" Jiraiya asked curiously. "Sakura?"

"Not at all," Sakura smiled confidently. "Having conversations and scrambling for numbers is a huge part of the game. If you're not doing it, you're not playing. But I have absolute faith in my alliance and that we will all stick to our word."

"Interesting," Jiraiya rubbed his chin in thought. "I've had two people here say that they are confident that their plans will pull through. What about you, Hanabi? Are you as confident?"

"I don't know if confidence is the right way to describe it," the young Hyuuga said. "I personally think that being confident is dangerous in this game. The best we can do is make plans and hope that it pulls through."

"So let's have a show of hands," Jiraiya indicated to the entire group. "Who here has a plan for tonight that they have faith in?"

Every hand went up.

"With that, I say it's time to find out which plan will succeed," Jiraiya said. "It's time to vote."

...

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and would like to play it, now would be the time to do so," Jiraiya instructed as he placed the voting urn on the pedestal.

A few people shifted uncomfortably in anticipation. However, it soon became clear that no idol would be presented to the Toad Sage tonight.

"Alright. Once the votes have been read the person with the highest number of votes will be asked to leave the tribal council area immediately," Jiraiya told them. "I'll read the votes. First vote: Sasuke."

Sasuke looked mildly uncomfortable, but stared resolutely at Jiraiya to continue.

"Next vote: Temari."

The kunoichi in question widened her eyes in shock. She wasn't aware that her name had come up at all today.

"Third vote: Sasuke," Jiraiya read as he pulled out the next paper. "Fourth vote: Temari. That's two for Sasuke and two for Temari."

"Shikamaru," Jiraiya announced as he unfolded the fifth piece of parchment.

To his credit, Shikamaru showed no signs of worry or surprise, but his eyes did narrow a fraction. On the other hand, Temari was starting to feel hopeful. Now was the time where five more votes for Shikamaru would surface. It was unfortunate as she did hold a flame for him, but the game had to come first for now.

"Next vote: Hanabi."

Temari made a confused face and glanced at her kunoichi friend. Hanabi was sporting a similar expression.

"Seventh vote: Hanabi," Jiraiya read. "That's one for Shikamaru, and two for Sasuke, Temari and Hanabi."

Worry was starting to pool in Temari's stomach as Jiraiya pulled out the next vote and read Hanabi's name for the third time.

"Ninth person voted out of Survivor: Ninja Edition and the second member of our jury," Jiraiya said solemnly, "Hanabi. That's four votes and it's enough."

Temari's mouth hung open in shock as she watched her closest ally pick up her torch and march to Jiraiya. Upon closer inspection, she observed that she wasn't the only one who was dumbfounded by the outcome of tonight. Shikamaru looked positively livid, while Ino and Deidara were whispering nervously to each other, their voices too low to be deciphered.

"Hanabi, the tribe has spoken," Jiraiya told her as he snuffed her torch. "Time for you to go."

"Wow," Hanabi shook her head in amusement and shock as she addressed the group. "Good blindside, guys. Well played."

As she youngest competitor of the game exited the tribal council hut, Jiraiya spoke to the remaining nine shinobi.

"From the looks on your faces, there were many plans in play tonight, but only one pulled through. Get back to camp and rest up. Goodnight."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Yew! Apologies for the delay in update, my friends! Thanks soooo much for all the reviews, favs and follows, they really give me a lot of much needed encouragement. I know that a bunch of you have been wanting Hanabi out for a while, so here you go! Hope you enjoyed it, heh. As for what happens to her Legacy Advantage... you'll just have to read the next chapter to find out who she wills it to. And if anyone was wondering, I used a randomizer for this chapter twice - deciding the reward challenge groups and choosing the 5 to make it past the first immunity challenge round. Thank you for reading! xxx


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